The Nightingale
by Umm.umm
Summary: Ashley Helena Wayne is the 25 year old daughter of Bruce Wayne and was formerly known as The Nightingale. While being a high ranking official in Wayne Enterprises, Ashley and her father have an estranged relationship. After a mission goes wrong, Ashley gives up the hero life, until an unfortunate event makes her realize she needs to be a hero once again. Eventual Dick/OC. (DCEU FF)
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:**

**Ashley's face claim is** Alicia Vikander** as this is a live action ff. I will give more face claims in the future as I get a better idea on who's playing who. **

**\- The Author**

**The Nightingale**

Ashley Helena Wayne is the 25 year old daughter of billionaire Bruce Wayne. From a very young age, she always despised her father. As her mother died when she was very young, Ashley never had a good relationship with her father. Bruce always tried his hardest to be there for Ashley, but due to running a company during the day, and fighting crime at night, he was never around. For as long as she could remember, she had always tried to make him proud. Whether it was assisting him when he was on patrol, to doing well in school, she tried her best to make him proud of her. From the affection her father showed towards her, she always felt like she was his biggest disappointment. This made Ashley get a close relationship with the family butler, Alfred, which she considered to be an almost grandfather to her since she never had one.

Her anger with her father grew stronger when he adopted his former partner, Dick Grayson. Ashley realized that her father had a better relationship with him than her, his own flesh and blood. While Ashley accompanied her father and Grayson on missions as her alias, The Nightingale, she always wondered what life would be like if she wasn't a Wayne. She wondered if she would've had normal life out of the spotlight than one that was in the spotlight.

She grew a little angrier when her half-brother Damien came into the picture. After Grayson left to create a new team, Damien took up the persona of 'Robin'. While Ashley was at the point where she could care less, her father surprisingly made her a top executive and board member in his company Wayne Enterprises. Due to working out of her father's company a majority of the time, she retired being the Nightingale and made a vow to herself, the she would never get back into the hero-life again. Or at least, that's what she thought.

**Present Day**

"Ms. Wayne, do you need anything else for the day? The board is requesting a report by Monday." Ashley's assistant Tiffany explained to her boss who was sitting in her desk chair with her feet on the desk in her office which overlooked Gotham City

"No, thank you though." Ashley smiled "I am going to be going home in a few minutes anyways. Did my father explain what the board requires or did he fail to do that?"

Tiffany sighed "I'm sorry Ms. Wayne; he failed to provide me with that information."

Ashley sighed "God I hate my dad"

"Ashley" Tiffany began "He's your father"

"I don't care, he's an asshole sometimes" Ashley replied taking her feet off the desk "When did they tell you the report has to be due by Monday?"

"Like 15 minutes ago, I just got a notification" Tiffany replied

"See what I mean, he's an asshole" Ashley said getting up out of her office chair

She was wearing a pair of black leather jeans, a plain white dress T-shirt, a black double-breasted blazer with gold buttons, and a pair of black leather boots that stopped at the ankle. She grabbed her purse and sun glasses and walked out of her office with Tiffany following her with a tablet.

"Mr. Kingston called and wanted to know about the shareholders meeting next Thursday." Tiffany began

"Tell him that I'm open to suggestions about what times, I want to make sure that everyone is able to come." Ashley replied as she went down the escalator

"Um...the Charity Ball that is coming up…" Tiffany continued

"Is 3 weeks from now yes?" Ashley questioned

Tiffany nodded "Yes, however it is customary for your father to do a donation to the orphanage every year. Have you decided on a total?"

"Yes, I believe my father actually informed me for once and said that he was giving 5 million for new renovations." Ashley explained as the valet brought her black Porsche around to the front door

"When shall I have the accounting department transfer the funds?" Tiffany asked looking up from her tablet

"Wait a few weeks, we want it to be a surprise I believe" Ashley said getting in her car but not before she thanked the valet and tipped him

Tiffany smiled "See you on Monday boss"

"Right back at you!" Ashley smiled back before putting her sunglasses on and driving away

She glanced at her watch and sighed. She knew she had 15 minutes to get to Gotham Academy to pick her brother up to take him back to her father's home for their annual once a week 'family' dinner. Since her father and Damien were the only two living in Wayne Manor as both Dick and Ashley moved out years ago, Bruce made it a goal of his to try and keep his family together.

Damien was 10 years younger than her, so as a sophomore in high school, he went to Gotham Academy where both his older sister and Dick graduated from. Though after their graduation, Ashley went away to study at MIT where as Dick went on to Gotham University.

Ashley pulled up to her brother's school and got out of the car just as the final bell rang. She began typing on her phone as she was leaned against her car. As she scrolled through the news she noticed that a new team of Meta's emerged called The Outsiders, but she didn't get any details on it and nor did she care.

Eventually her brother came walking out looking pissed off about something, but she knew not to pry. Her brother stopped in front of her and she looked up from her phone, he stared at her and narrowed his eyes:

"What? Are you going to talk to me?" Ashley asked sternly

"Can you move?" Damien whined "I want to go home"

Ashley moved allowing her brother to get into her car. Once she was in on the driver's side, she started the car again and pulled away. As she began driving back to her father's house Damien started:

"Why the fuck are you here? Usually Alfred picks me up"

Ashley rolled her eyes at her brother's use of language and sighed "Dad wanted me to pick you up for our stupid weekly dinner, did you forget? Did he not specify that I'd pick you up?"

"I got bigger things to worry about than father's stupid dinner." Damien replied

Ashley sighed knowing if her brother was having issues in school, he wouldn't tell her. Eventually, they made it to the house and both siblings walked inside. They were met by Alfred:

"Welcome back Master Damien, and Welcome home Miss Ashley, it has been a while." Alfred said warmly

"Thanks Alfred, it's always good to come home…once a week" Ashley said with a smile

"Dinner is served; your father is in the dining room." Alfred explained and both went into the dining room

Once they sat down, they began eating. Ashley said nothing, and a majority of the conversation was between her father and brother. She sat there thinking about her job and anything other than what they were speaking about. She was snapped out of her trance when her father said:

"Ashley? Did you hear my question?"

Ashley looked up from her plate and glanced at her father:

"What?" she asked

"I asked if you were coming on patrol with us." Bruce explained as he and Damien both were standing up looking at her

"No, I'm good" Ashley replied "I uh, was going home anyways. I'm really tired"

Bruce and Damien shared a glance and nodded before they both disappeared to get ready to leave. Ashley finished her dinner, and decided to help Alfred do the dishes but Alfred told her to go relax. Deciding that she really had no reason to stay in her father's home, she decided to drive back to her apartment.

On the drive home, she thought about what her life would be like if she still was the Nightingale. Maybe the relationship with her father would be better, maybe her brother wouldn't be ice cold towards her, and maybe her relationship with Dick would still be in existence. She mentally ignored those thoughts when she got home.

After she was in her apartment, she quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants, and an MIT sweatshirt before she settled into bed. Eventually, she let exhaustion take over and she fell asleep, however, all of this changed when she heard a loud bang come from her living room which woke her up out of a deep sleep.

When Ashley heard the bang that came from her living room, she jumped. Cautiously, she glanced at her alarm clock which read: '3:30 am'. Slowly, she climbed out of bed, and grabbed the handgun from the drawer in her nightstand and crept towards her bedroom door. She proceeded down the small hallway before peering over her shoulder to see a dark figure rummaging through her cabinets. That was when she heard the figure murmur the words:

"Fuck, she's got every single kind of spice, but yet she can't cook. Goddamnit, where the fuck does she keep her med-supplies?"

Her eyes widened at the sound of the person's voice. The sarcasm and the annoyance that was heavy in that person's voice. She knew that voice well, too well. That was the voice of a person who knew her all too well both physically and mentally. Though she was surprised to hear that voice since that person and her haven't talked in almost 5 years.

She turned the light on and rounded the corner to face the person from the end of the hallway to her living room which was attached to her kitchen:

"Dick?"

The person turned around and Ashley relaxed when the person in question turned out to be none other than her former partner/boyfriend Dick Grayson.

"Hey Ash" Dick replied "I need your help"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

**This story takes place in the DCEU approximately 5 years after Justice League. So the actors that play the characters in the movie are the same as on here. Dick's face claim is Scott Eastwood and Damian's face claim is David Mazouz.**

* * *

Ashley didn't know what to think when she saw Dick standing there. She almost passed out when she saw him. Not only was he standing in her apartment and rummaging thru her stuff like he use to do when they were dating, no, he was standing there with scratches covering his body. From where she was standing, she saw blood trickling out of the multiple slashes that were made all over his suit which she assumed came from a sword.

"What happened?" she asked walking slowly towards him but not before she put her gun in the back of her pants.

"Nothing, now where's your first aid?" Dick asked

"It doesn't look like nothing…take a seat at the counter, I'll get the supplies." Ashley explained as Dick slowly walked over to one of the stools at the kitchen island.

Ashley took notice that Dick had a slight limp when he walked over, and she figured she check that out as well. She went into the bathroom and grabbed her medical supplies and walked back into the kitchen. Dick already took the top part of his suit off which made Ashley see how bad the cuts were.

"Jesus, Grayson what the hell did you do?" Ashley said as she began to tend to his wounds.

Dick sighed "Don't worry about it it's nothing" He started to move and push her away.

"Don't" Ashley quickly responded. "Just let me"

A few quiet minutes went by as Ashley began stitching his left arm. His voice broke her trance as he finally told her what he was doing:

"I was investigating a lead on the mystery killer you and I were tracking down a few years ago. Let's just say I ran into the heart of Gotham's Yukuza and didn't escape without a few scratches."

Ashley looked up from Dick's arm:

"You mean the mystery killer being your Jason's still alive theory?"

Dick slowly nodded.

Ashley sighed "Why do you keep stressing yourself out over this. I was there when Jason was murdered. We all were you, me, Tim, and my Dad. Dick, we saw him die."

"I know" Dick began "but I just got this feeling."

Ashley let his words brush off as she continued to stitch up his arm. Ashley briefly zoned out for a few moments when she thought about the day Jason died. Jason Drake was another one of Ashley's father's 'sons'. While he was not biological to her, she did consider him to be like a younger brother to her before Damian came into her life.

When Jason came into her life, Ashley wasn't thrilled. While Ashley was 16 at the time, and starting to grow distant from her father, she realized that maybe she should give the kid a chance. While she didn't enjoy Jason being in her life in the beginning, she didn't mind him later. When Jason died, Ashley was shook to the core, which was one of the main reasons why she quit being the Nightingale.

Jason's death was just one of the reasons that drove Dick and Ashley apart. Ashley remembered countless nights where she and Dick would argue. Whether it would be after they both came back from a mission, or when they both came home from work. Ashley remembered the night she and Dick called it quits. She remembered being so angry at him that she threw a hair-dryer at him. Ashley remembered after he left she broke down in tears as she felt it was all her fault they had this horrible divide between them. What she didn't know is that it was 50/50 between the two of them.

What snapped Ashley out of her trance was when Dick said:

"You're good at that."

"I've been good at it." Ashley huffed in amusement. "I remember millions of times when we were dating where you would come home worse than this and I would tend to your many 'battle scars'."

"Yeah, how's Luke by the way?" Dick asked

"Moved to Metropolis, got a new job, a new house, new girlfriend, you know the usual things that happen after a break-up." Ashley responded "How's Barbara?"

Dick sighed "We uh…had a falling out. She went away. I don't know where she is. Last I know Tim said she was working with him but that was three years ago. Tim's been retired for at least 2 years."

"Tim's out of retirement?"

Dick sighed "Kind of, he won't give me the details."

Ashley slowly nodded before stitching the final stitch. She stood up:

"Done"

"Thanks" Dick began "Can we talk for a few minutes before you throw me out the window?"

"I'm not going to throw you out the window." Ashley sassily replied. "I threw a hairdryer at you, big difference."

"Can I crash on your couch tonight…you know…as friends?" Dick began ignoring the last comment and Ashley sighed

"Fine, but you better be out by morning." Ashley began as she walked into the hall closet and grabbed a pillow and blanket.

"I will, I just really don't want to drive back to Bludhaven tonight." Dick explained as she walked back into her living room. "It's far away"

"It's only 30 minutes away." Ashley said dryly as she handed him the pillow and blanket.

"You always were better at Math than me." Dick replied making Ashley roll her eyes.

"Oh god" Ashley murmured in annoyance.

Just then a knock a loud knock at Ashley's door began making both of them look hesitantly towards the door. Upon opening the door, she aimed the gun at the suspect but only to put it in the back of her pajama pants when she realized it was her brother.

"Damian?" Ashley said in shock. "What the fuck are you doing here? Does Dad know you're here? Where is Dad?"

Damian said nothing and walked past his sister and into the kitchen where he sat down on the same stool Dick sat at just moments before. He put his head down and sighed:

"Ashley?" he asked

Ashley looked at Dick who was just as shocked as she was to see her little brother looking as limp as a feather.

"Yeah?" Ashley replied

"Can I stay here tonight?" Damian asked

"If you tell me why you are here, then yes, yes you can." Ashley told her brother as she crossed her arms.

Damian sighed "We were on patrol just like we always were; we were going after some guy that has some ties to the League of Shadows."

"I thought we destroyed the League?" Ashley questioned

"We didn't, we killed my mother, but we didn't destroy the League." Damian began. "All I know is, we were ambushed in a warehouse downtown and I was knocked out. When I woke up Father was gone."

"Did you check the mansion?" Ashley asked

"I called Pennyworth, he said he hadn't returned." Damian explained

"Did you try calling Dad?" Ashley asked. "He could've gotten another call."

"I did no answer." Damian explained

"Do you remember how many guys there were?" Ashley asked

"No, there were a bunch; I can't even remember the uniforms." Damian continued

"Did you see your attacker?" Dick asked butting into the conversation.

Damian turned around. "No, he came at me from behind, I blacked in and out of consciousness for a few minutes, and all I saw was a flash of red before it went all black."

Damian turned back around to face his sister "I have a question."

"Shoot" Ashley replied

He gestured between Dick and Ashley "Are you guys like a thing again?"

Ashley put a palm to her forehead and sighs in annoyance where as Dick started to snicker making Ashley give him a death glare which made him stop.

"We're not." Dick explained crossing his arms

"Then why are you here, and how did you get in?" Damian asked

"I broke in; I didn't feel like driving back to Bludhaven to get medical attention." Dick explained

"Yeah, sure" Damian replied suspiciously before turning back towards his sister "He does realize that Bludhaven is 30 minutes away right?"

Ashley glanced at Dick and he put his head down. Ashley smirked at that point before walking over to her little brother. She held up her right index finger:

"Keep your eyes on my finger." Ashley explained as she moved the figure up, down, then side to side. She watched as Damian's eyes had difficulty following her finger and she mentally knew what was wrong with him.

"Alright, give me 15 minutes to get my things, and then I am driving you back home." she explained as she walked back into her bedroom.

5 minutes later, she came out dressed in a pair of black yoga pants, a black athletic tank top, a grey zip-up hoodie, and a pair of black running sneakers. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a high pony tail.

She grabbed her car keys and both Damian and Dick followed her out the door and into her car. The car ride was silent as all three of them didn't know what to say. Pulling around to the front of the house, Ashley noticed that Alfred was already waiting by the door. Getting out of the car Alfred began to descend down the steps:

"Miss Ashley you're…" Alfred began

"Damian has a concussion; he went in and out of consciousness and is seeing double vision. He's also having trouble focusing." Ashley explained as she descended the steps into the house with her brother hot on her tail.

"I do not have a concussion" Damian said almost falling down going up the steps

"Says the kid who just almost fell walking up the steps." Dick said with amusement

"Shut up Grayson" Damian sassed

Once Damian was checked out by Alfred who deemed he had a concussion, Ashley, Damian, Dick and Alfred were all in the original Batcave trying to figure out where Bruce went.

"What if he went to get a coffee?" Damian asked joking making Dick and Ashley look at him in anger

"C'mon" Damian began "You know how father likes his coffee."

"Damian now's not the time to play games." Ashley scolded

"Since when did you become the responsible one?" Damian continued "You use to party all the time."

Ashley glared at her brother and was about to tell him off when Alfred stepped forward.

"Perhaps it is best if you go upstairs to rest, Master Damian" Alfred suggested and Damian didn't even object as he was too tired to care

Dick sighed as he turned around away from the computer screens on the wall screens and leaned on the desk "In all my years I've known him, I never thought of him to be the person to leave someone he cared about."

Ashley sat in her father's chair in dead silence with both of her legs up on the chair tucked underneath of her. She was leaning on her right arm, as her right palm was holding the side of her face.

"He wouldn't" Ashley explained quietly "He'd never leave either of us if we were out on patrol."

"Maybe someone took him" Dick suggested looking at Ashley

Ashley looked at the picture of her, Dick, and Damian from Christmas seven years prior that was on her father's desk. She remembered those times, when everyone was together. Now, they were dismantled and filled with hate for each other.

"For the first time in my life I don't know what to do." Ashley began "I have no clue on where to pick up or even to start."

Dick sighed and crossed his arms and glanced at Ashley. He knew what the look on her face was. He knew that expression well due to it being the same expression she had after Jason's death. Dick glanced at the clock on the wall; it was 6:00 am.

"What are we going to do?" Ashley asked looking at Dick

"I don't know. Knowing Bruce, he'll come back." Dick reassured her

Ashley stood up "And what if he doesn't?"

"Ash" Dick began

"No, I mean it." Ashley began "What if he's dead? Then what do we do? How do we figure this out?"

"We're not giving up from finding him right?" Dick asked and Ashley shook her head no

Dick grabbed Ashley's right hand gently and held it in his. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"We'll find him." Dick assured her "I promise."

In that moment, Ashley felt something that she hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. But all of that would change when the searching began. Minutes became hours, hours became days, days, became weeks, and weeks became months. Ashley felt as though her father would never be found. After six months into the search, Ashley told Dick to give up as there was no way her father was coming back. Or at least she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**1 Year Later**

"…Due to the new ideas of Wayne Enterprises Technology division, we may be able to find a quicker idea on powering Gotham City by means of clean energy. Now the cost is quite high for a project this large but I do believe that we can figure this out. My suggestions are to use the Wayne Foundation money to cover the cost for the wind-farms to power the city…Ms. Wayne? Ms. Wayne? Ashley?" John Harrison was saying which snapped Ashley out of her trance.

Ashley blinked a few times before she sat up in her seat at the other end of the room at the table. She was sitting in the conference room in the middle of a board meeting on clean energy zoning out on John Harrison's ideas on clean energy for Gotham City.

"I'm sorry John; you know what, how about we continue this talk next week." Ashley suggested as she got up from the table. She was wearing a light grey sleeveless dress and black heels with her hair put up into a bun.

"But Ms. Wayne…" John began

"John I promise you that I will get back to you rather soon on your idea okay? I have a busy schedule today." Ashley began trying to get out of the board meeting

"Okay?" John replied and Ashley waved the members of the board goodbye as she walked out of the conference room and into the direction of her office. Her assistant met her en route:

"How did the meeting go?" Tiffany asked

"So far John Harrison wants me to use all of the company's funds for the Charity Ball on wind-farms to power Gotham City. Remind me that it won't work." Ashley explained

"Agreed, I have your Caramel Latte." Tiffany said as Ashley reached the door of her office.

Ashley accepted the drink and smiled: "Thank you."

"I'll be at my desk if you need me" Tiffany smiled

Tiffany walked out of Ashley's office and Ashley sat down at her desk. She turned the chair around to look over at Gotham's skyline. While it was raining, she enjoyed how peaceful it was…well, at least from this high up, but down on the streets below, crime was at an all time high. Bruce had been missing for a year, and since his disappearance, everything in Ashley's life had gone to hell. Ashley was named CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Ashley was charged with taking care of and watching out for her little brother, she moved her brother out of Wayne Manor and into her father's second home a few miles down the road, and Dick also moved back in with the Wayne's to help Ashley with her brother.

The phone on Ashley's desk began to ring, but Ashley couldn't bother with it at this point in time so she let it go to voicemail.

"_You have reached the office of Ashley Wayne, please leave your name and number and a brief message after the tone."_ The answering machine said before the voice of a caller came on

"_Ms. Wayne, this is Headmaster Hammer of Gotham Academy, I am calling with regards for your brother Damian as he caused a scene in a school assembly today. If you could come to my office as soon as possible I would appreciate it. Thank you, and have a good day." _

Ashley spun around in her seat and got up out of her chair. Before she walked out of her office, she grabbed her purse, her tan Burberry trench coat, and a Burberry umbrella. The next thing she knew, she was in her black Porsche driving to Gotham Academy. Once at Gotham Academy, she got out of the car and walked into the school. As she walked down the hall, towards the Headmaster's office, she heard a voice call from behind her.

"Ash!"

Ashley turned around to see Dick practically running up to her to catch up with her.

"Hey" Dick said once he caught up with her "You got the call too?"

"Yeah" Ashley sighed "I wonder what he did now?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out." Dick explained as they walked toward the office

Upon approaching the door, both of them saw Damian sitting outside of the office looking angered by something. Ashley looked over her little brother and noticed a cut on his lower lip and a slight bruise near his left eye. Damian looked up to see his sister and Dick looking both angered and shocked at the same time.

"Ashley" Damian began

"Don't" Ashley said putting her right hand up making him stop talking "I am going to fix this."

"Do you…"Dick began

"No" Ashley quickly replied "Stay here, I'll fix this. Like always"

She then walked into the office leaving Dick and her brother in the hallway. Dick sighed and sat down next to Damian.

"So before your sister comes back out here and rips your head off, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Dick calmly asked

Damian sighed "It was during a school assembly. We were going over being safe while on campus as Gotham's crime rate went up. Some things were said about father that I didn't like so I threatened the kid. The other guy put up a fight. He looks more beat up than me."

Dick sighed "You know how we feel about violence. Violence doesn't solve everything."

"I know." Damian replied

They both were quiet for a while before Damian interrupted the silence:

"So, why did you come back Circus Act? Because I know it wasn't because my father disappeared. You still have feelings for my sister don't you?" Damian asked

Dick sighed again; he knew Damian was right because even after he and Ashley ended their relationship, he still loved her. Dick was about to answer the question, but was cut short when Ashley walked back into the hallway. She said nothing to her brother or to Dick, but ushered them both out of the school. Her brother was riding with Dick back to the house where as Ashley was driving back by herself.

Since moving her brother out of Wayne Manor, Ashley, Dick, Alfred and Damian all moved into her father's lake house which was just outside of Gotham. She called it 'the training center' as her father spent most of his time there, instead of Wayne Manor. However, she remembered her father calling it 'Glasshouse' when she was little. As she pulled onto her father's property, she noticed the house hasn't changed. It was still a modern home, surrounded by the forest, but still had a path to go running on. She remembered this place more than Dick, more than Tim, more than Jason, and more than Damian ever did, as this was her childhood home. When she saw the house come into view, Ashley began to have a certain fear as she hadn't been in this home since her mother had died. As soon as her car was parked, she walked into the front door with umbrella, and purse in hand. Her brother and Dick already entered the house.

When she entered the living room she remembered all of the times she spent here with her father and mother. She remembered birthday's, Christmas's, Thanksgiving's, and many other celebrations that were held in this home, but she also remembered the pain it caused her and her father to come back here. Ashley loved her mother, and when she died, both Ashley and her father suffered, however, Ashley knew she couldn't dwell on the topic as it would interfere with her main purpose of being here. She set her purse down on the sofa before explaining to her brother:

"You should be happy that I saved your ass once again. Hammer wanted to get you expelled but I fought for you once again. Your welcome."

Damian rolled his eyes and walked down the hall towards his room making Ashley sigh in defeat. Later that evening Ashley completely placed herself in her father's office as she tried to get work done. She didn't come out even for dinner which worried both Dick and Alfred.

"If you handle Miss Ashley, I will handle Master Damian." Alfred explained

"Why do you think she'll listen to me?" Dick asked grabbing a plate of food from Alfred

"Perhaps she needs a friend to tell her problems to, Master Richard." Alfred explained as he walked down the hall heading towards Damian's room

"Here goes nothing" Dick murmured as he walked into the office to see Ashley asleep on the couch

Dick set the plate of food down on the desk before gently shaking Ashley awake.

"Ash, Ash, Ashley." Dick began

"Mmm" Ashley moaned

"Ash, I brought you food." Dick replied

Ashley's eyes opened and she slowly sat up. "I must've fallen asleep, what time is it?"

"A little after 9. Alfred made chicken as he doesn't want anyone to go hungry." Dick explained and she got up off the couch and went back to her desk and sat down

She was silent for a while before she said:

"It's been one year since he's been gone and I still can't figure out what to do."

Dick sighed "I know the feeling."

"It's just like I don't want him to be gone you know. I wish I had a better relationship with him."

Dick sighed. "I've been thinking lately, that we need to do something about crime in Gotham."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked

"I've been thinking that if we want to find Bruce, we need to get back out there." Dick explained "We need to get back and on patrol again."

Ashley sighed "Dick I…"

"Ash, we need to fix this. You and I both know that Bruce isn't dead. We are not going to sit around and sulk on this one. We need to get out there again." Dick continued

"So what do we do?" Ashley asked "You and I both know that Damian can't handle this, he'll kill anyone in sight that had anything to do with the disappearance of him."

"We expand our team. I mean c'mon, who do we need?" Dick asked with a small smiled

"We need a person with skills in engineering, a person that is a good tracker, a master of disguise and a computer science nerd." Ashley explained

"Now I know the computer science nerd as she's sitting right in front of me. Now, who are we going to ask to come and help us find the one man who brought us all together?" Dick asked and Ashley's eyes widened

"Are you serious?" Ashley asked leaning forward

Dick smiled at Ashley finally realizing who he meant on bringing in to help the cause. "Oh yeah. Ash, we're bringing the band back together."


	4. Chapter 4

_Ashley woke up the next morning at 4:30 am. She quickly dressed in her running clothes and went out onto the small path for an early morning run. While she was running she heard footsteps behind her, she looked behind her to see Dick trying to catch her. Ashley picked up the pace and ran quicker. Ever since she was a little girl, she was a fast runner. She ran track in Gotham Academy and set the track record, and out of all of her father's protégés, Ashley was the fastest runner. She might have not been the strongest, but she was the fastest. _

_Eventually, Ashley slowed down allowing Dick to catch up with her. When she stopped, Dick slowed his pace as he caught up to her. When he caught up to her, his breathing was heavy as he was out of breath where as Ashley felt like she could go another 5 miles. _

"_Why do you do that?" Dick asked in between his breaths _

_Ashley smirked "What do you mean?" _

"_Don't act all smart" Dick replied making Ashley laugh "You know exactly what you did." _

_Ashley started walking back towards the house to make it easy for Dick to continue the conversation with her._

"_It's not my fault I'm more athletic than you Grayson." Ashley replied playfully_

"_You do know I was a professional acrobat back in the day." Dick reminded making Ashley laugh even more "You were just lucky all that ballet you took as a kid helped you with track and field."_

"_Wow, you know I was going to walk back with you to the house to allow you to breathe but now, I don't think I will." Ashley said before she broke out into a run _

"_HEY!" Dick called before he broke out into a sprint to try and catch up with her _

_Ashley slowed down purposely for Dick to catch her, and when he did, they tumbled to the ground with Dick landing on top of Ashley. When they were both on the ground, they both started laughing before Ashley said:_

"_I love you" _

_Dick smiled and replied "I love you too" _

_As he began to pull her into a kiss, a loud beeping sound went off. Dick turned his head to see red numbers that read: '6:30 am' as the picture began fading away. _

Dick sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes before realizing that it was all a dream. Dick sighed before coming up with an idea that would get Ashley on board. Before getting out of bed, he sent a text out to a person whom Ashley would need to speak with before he walked down the hall to wake up Ashley.

He knocked a couple times on her door before she answered.

'_She looks half annoyed, and half awake, but so adorable'_ Dick thought to himself

"Hey" Dick said to her and she raised her eyebrows "Want to go to breakfast?"

Sure enough within the next 45 minutes, Dick and Ashley were in a small Diner in Gotham having breakfast. Dick had ordered waffles and coffee, where as Ashley had ordered Eggs Benedict and coffee.

"Why are we here? You sure as hell didn't want me to just eat breakfast with you as friends." Ashley asked before taking a sip of her coffee

"Well first off, this place has the best waffles in Gotham and I had a craving for them, and second, we're meeting someone here. Remember I said we're bringing the band back together, I've got an old friend of mine coming in who said he would be interested in helping us with finding your father." Dick explained

"Who?" Ashley asked

"Oh my god!" a voice said making Ashley's eyes widen and her eyebrows raise

"No" Ashley said half sternly, and half shockingly

"Yes" Dick said with a smile

The person that said those words, Ashley remembered all too well. As she shared a living space with that person all too much back when she was a member of Dick's team. Ashley turned her head around to see the person in question, Dick's best friend, Wally West.

"Grayson, what's up?" Wally asked as he pulled Dick into a hug

"Oh nothing much, thanks for coming to support the cause." Dick explained as he sat back down

Ashley then got up

"Well, when I told Barry that Bruce was missing, I knew I had to do something" Wally replied he then turned towards Ashley "Sassafras! How are you?"

Ashley smiled and gave him a hug "It's good to see you too Wally"

"I missed you Sassafras, Artemis misses you. I'll tell her that you're still alive and your usual anti-social self" Wally explained and Ashley smirked

"You going to stay a while, I'll buy you a coffee." Dick explained

"No, can't stay long, but I brought you the file you asked for." Wally explained placing a folder on the table "I'll tell everybody back at the tower that Sassafras is her usual bitchy self. I'll text you later Grayson."

And Wally walked out. Ashley looked back to Dick who smirked:

"Oh don't worry, Wally is not going to be a part of the team to find your father, I've got a list of other individuals. I had Roy put a file together for me."

"Who are they?" Ashley asked

"Well, do you want to go on a little recruitment process with me today?" Dick asked and Ashley sighed

"C'mon Ash" Dick began "It'll be fun."

Ashley sighed "Fine, where are we going?"

**Metropolis**

Dick and Ashley walked into the large shopping mall with their heads held high.

"She better be here." Dick began "If she's not here, I'm going to die."

"That makes two of us." Ashley replied

Walking into the dry cleaners, Ashley spotted their certain red-headed target working the cash register.

"Welcome to Metro-Clean, the fastest dry cleaners in the…what the hell are you two doing here?" the woman replied

Ashley smiled "Hello to you too Kate."

Kate smiled back and moved from behind the counter to give Ashley a hug. She then gave Dick a hug.

"Nice place you got here Kate." Dick said looking around

"Well you know me, always trying to cleanse something, now why are you two here? You sure as hell didn't come by just to say hi." Kate replied crossing her arms

This was when Ashley explained the whole situation to Kate. After hearing the whole story, Kate sighed, and replied:

"I'm in, Bruce helped me with my multiple troubles when I was a kid, it will be my honor to help you get him back."

The next thing they knew, Ashley and Dick were driving back to Glasshouse.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Dick said while driving

Ashley looked up from her phone: "What?"

"Like when we were building the Titans from scratch back in the day. Remember? You, me, Connor, Jason, M'gann, Roy, Artemis, Wally, Gar…"

"Look I get it okay?" Ashley replied glancing at him "I also remember all of us fighting because we were hormonal teenagers."

"Yeah that too." Dick replied

A few hours later Dick and Ashley were at Glasshouse working on a plan for when Kate arrived when Dick got a call:

"Hello?" he answered

Ashley's head rose when Dick said the words 'come outside'

Dick and Ashley both went outside to see a black SUV parked outside the house. The front passenger side window then rolled down revealing two familiar faces.

"Whassaup?!" Wally said in excitement "No wait I'm sorry that was too firm…Whassaup?"

"What did you do?" Dick asked

"Oh, I brought everybody" Wally explained "We're finding Bruce one way or another so I figured it would be best if I brought the whole team. Oh and aren't you going to say thank you to whom I brought" Wally said gesturing to the person in the driver's seat

"Tim?" Dick said in shock

"Hey Dick, hey Ash." Tim said and Ashley smiled and waved

"You wanted to bring the band back together, Grayson, I brought the band." Wally explained as he got out of the car and the other doors opened revealing Conner, M'gann, Roy, Artemis, Rachel, and Garfield. Wally then said:

"Oh and I would like to mention in full reality…Titans are back bitches!"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

**Kate's face claim is Kristen Stewart ****and Tim's face claim is Logan Lerman.**

* * *

"Gah!" Ashley said as she sat up when her eyes opened. She noticed that she was sitting on the couch back inside the house with Dick, Damian, and Tim standing around her looking worried.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Dick said putting his hands on her shoulders "Easy Ash"

"What happened?" Ashley asked as she put her right hand to her forehead and Dick took his hands of her shoulders

"You blacked out" a voice said from behind

Ashley turned around to see Kate in the kitchen nursing a beer.

"Yeah, apparently, after Speed-Demon jokingly said 'Titans are back bitches' you passed out from shock." Kate explained

"I tried telling you that Wally and everyone wasn't getting involved in this." Dick began "Apparently seeing everybody all at once made you have an anxiety attack and you passed out."

"Oh" Ashley sighed

"Yeah, they just dropped me off; they were all going out to dinner with the rest of the League." Tim explained and Ashley nodded getting up off the couch

"Can I go back to my room now? I really don't want to associate with anyone today." Damian explained

Ashley sighed in annoyance "Fine."

"I didn't even get a hello" Tim replied and Damian gave him the middle finger in response

"Damian." Ashley scolded

"You are so not my mother." Damian murmured

As her brother went down the hall Ashley turned back towards Tim: " I should give you a hug."

Tim smiled and pulled Ashley in for a hug.

"It's good to see you." Tim explained as he and Ashley pulled out of the hug

"Where's Alfred?" Ashley asked

"Went to the store, said he needed the things to make pot roast for dinner tonight." Kate explained from her seat at the kitchen counter.

"When did you get here?" Ashley asked

"About ten minutes after you passed out, I was here to listen to Speed-Demon call Dick a murderer."

Ashley was about to reply until her cell phone went off. She reached into her back pocket in her jeans and pulled it out. "Excuse me I have to take this." As she walked out of the room and into the hallway, she answered the phone with the phrase: "_Ashley Wayne"_

When she walked away, Dick's gaze fell on Ashley and stayed there for quite a long time causing Tim and Kate to share a glance.

"Grayson?" Tim asked causing Dick to snap out of his trance

"Yeah?" Dick asked turning around to speak to Tim but Tim just smirked in response and raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Dick asked again and Tim started to laugh along with Kate

"C'mon" Dick said crossing his arms "What's so funny?"

"You still don't get it do you Grayson?" Kate asked amusingly

"Get what?" Dick asked

"You still love her don't you?" Tim asked and Dick scoffed in annoyance

"Why are we focusing on my relationship issues with Ashley when we should be talking about you and Ariana?" Dick countered and Tim rolled his eyes

"You should ask her out on a date." Kate explained crossing her arms

Dick's eyebrows raised and Tim snapped his fingers towards Kate in agreement.

"I don't know." Dick began "I mean we both…you know…"

"Dick" Kate began "Trust me, just talk to her. Just kind of ease into it…"

"Kate, I know how to talk to girls." Dick explained leaning against the couch

"Really, is that why you and Ashley aren't together? Is that why you and Kory called off your engagement? Is that why you and Barbara hate each other?" Tim asked looking at Dick with an amused smirk

"Just stop" Dick replied in annoyance

Ashley walked back into the room and leaned against the doorway:

"Sorry about that, board members are asking me about my input on the new Wind Farms. I think it's bogus."

Tim was about to reply when Alfred walked in with bags of groceries.

"I hate to interrupt the reunion, but I have a packed car filled with groceries and I would appreciate the help." Alfred explained

Within the next 6 hours after dinner, Dick, Ashley, Kate, and Tim were in the bat-cave under the house discussing their plans on how to find Bruce.

"Before we figure out on where to find Bruce" Dick began "I would like to welcome the three of you to 'Dick Grayson's superhero boot camp.' This is where I re-train you weirdoes on how to fight again."

Tim stood up from his seat: "Excuse me?"

"I don't mean like we are weird…I can't call you guys the Titans." Dick explained

"Why not?" Tim asked "Both Ash and I are ex-Titans."

"Kate's not." Dick replied

"Honestly Grayson?" Kate said crossing her arms from her seat

"Yes, in all honesty Kate you are not or were not a Titan." Dick began

"In reality though are we weird?" Tim asked

"To be honest-"Dick began

"Oh here he goes, throwing us in the ditch again." Kate explained

"I was joking." Dick replied

"Since when did you get a sense of humor?" Tim asked

"You know I've had one." Dick responded

Tim huffed in amusement "Bull-shit."

"You know what…" Dick replied

"I honestly don't care if you call us Titans or not!" Ashley said in frustration as she got up from her seat "Who cares! I just want to find my Dad, do we have to go through with learning the do's and don'ts on how to fight? We all know how to fight. I mean come on Grayson; we're not five years old."

Dick crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Ashley and Ashley put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows in response. Tim knew the current standoff. When Dick and Ashley were both still members of the Titans, they would have standoffs like this during briefings all the time. Ashley wanted to plan the mission her way, where as Dick wanted to plan the mission his way. Dick and Ashley would continue to argue all through the day. Tim then remembered the downside of having a room underneath of them. He remembered that after everyone went to bed, they were still going at it…in a different form. He would hear them all night long and when he thought they would stop for the night, they would continue, but louder. On those nights, Tim would get little to no sleep at all.

"Besides" Ashley continued "I'm not going to fight anyways."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked

"I'm going to be hacking into systems…"Ashley began

"Wait a minute, so you're not even going to help us find your father?" Tim asked

"I am…just not on the front lines." Ashley replied

"Ashley, Ashley, Ashley" Tim began "You are like the sister I never wanted but received, why aren't you going to help us find the guy who brought us together?"

"It's a long story." Ashley said with a sigh "I need to get work done for the company, if you'll excuse me."

As Ashley began to ascend the stairs, Tim turned back to Dick who sighed in response.

"You and I both know that we need her to be in the field with us." Kate explained

"I know, but I don't know how we can get her out of the shadows and into the light." Dick replied

"We'll think of something, I know we will." Tim replied looking at the original Nightingale suit that was displayed behind glass.

Dick looked at the suit and remembered when Ashley first designed it. It was a black form fitting suit that zipped in the front. Ashley opted for no cap or hood as she didn't want to get caught in tight areas with a stupid cape in her way.

"Don't worry" Kate reminded snapping both Tim and Dick out of their trance "We'll get her back, and then, we'll get Bruce back. Together."


	6. Chapter 6

After getting her work done, Ashley decided to go to bed. Even though she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. So she decided to do the next best thing, walk around. When she was a teenager, she would walk around the house to help her fall asleep, so she believed it would help her once again, especially in this situation. She grabbed her phone after putting on her black square frame glasses and pulling her hair up into a pony tail before descending down the stairs into the bat-cave once again.

As she began to descend the stairs, she stopped half-way down, and looked at her father's desk. She then began to remember another time where she couldn't sleep and she came down the stairs because of a nightmare.

_Ashley woke up in the middle of the night to a nightmare. Her forehead was dripping with sweat as she clutched her white stuffed-bunny to her chest as if someone was going to steal it from her. Realizing that she couldn't sleep, she decided to walk around the house. Taking her bunny with her, she walked down the hallway. She realized that the light was on in his office making her become attracted to it, like a moth to a flame. As she began to descend down the stairs, she overheard her father speaking to someone on the phone named Jim:_

"_I understand Jim but you need to…I…look if you get any leads on her murderer please call me. Thank you…yeah…you too…bye." _

_She saw her father hang up the phone before sighing loudly. _

"_Daddy?" Ashley asked quietly making Bruce turn away from his desk and computer screens to see his five year old daughter, clutching her stuffed animal in her right hand, looking worried. _

"_Ashley?" Bruce replied timidly 'What're you doing up?" _

"_I couldn't sleep." Ashley said as she slowly walked over to her father "What are you doing?"_

_Bruce pushed the file away on the desk so Ashley couldn't see as he picked her up so she sat in his lap. "Working on some things, you should be in bed little miss." Bruce explained _

"_I know, but I couldn't sleep." Ashley explained "I had a nightmare" _

"_Oh?" Bruce replied "About what?" _

_Ashley looked down at her rabbit before looking right into her father's eyes and replied: "Mommy"_

_Bruce sighed knowing what was going thru his daughter's mind. Similar to his own childhood, Ashley witnessed the murder of her mother at a very young age. Even younger than when he saw both of his parents die in front of him. Three months had passed since her death, and Ashley had nightmare after nightmare about witnessing her mother die. Bruce didn't know what to do. He didn't want to tell her to embrace the darkness like he did, he didn't want to tell her to try and control her emotions, and he definitely didn't want to lose her like he lost her mother._

"_It's okay." Bruce said before kissing her forehead "You know Mommy's in a better place." _

"_I miss her" Ashley quickly replied _

_Bruce gave a said smile "I miss her too, but we can't let that hold us back. She wouldn't want us sulking in our sorrow right?"_

_Ashley nodded and gave her father a hug and he hugged her back. _

"_Don't worry, I'll protect you. I'll always protect you" Bruce explained and Ashley hugged him tighter_

"_I love you Daddy" Ashley said quietly_

"_I love you too" Bruce replied in the same tone _

_From looking over her father's shoulder, Ashley saw the person who was the main suspect of who killed her mother. She looked over the file from where she was and saw that the file was a picture of a man. Underneath the picture were the words, 'The Joker.' From that moment on Ashley vowed vengeance on the person who killed her mother, and she wouldn't stop until justice was served._

Ashley remembered that night. She remembered that all through her years as a little girl, and into her late teens, she wanted vengeance on the Joker. She wanted to avenge the death of her mother, and the death of Jason. All of that changed when she was on her final mission as the Nightingale. She remembered her and Dick on patrol following a lead on the Joker and Harley Quinn when they both were ambushed. Ashley eventually took the Joker head on and was 2 steps away from murdering him, but it all came crashing down when Harley Quinn shot her twice. One bullet landing on the right side of her abdomen, and the other in her upper left shoulder. The bullet in her shoulder was just 3 inches away from hitting an artery, so she was lucky, and there was no doubt about that. Just the thought of it made Ashley rub the side of her body where the scar was. While it was six years ago, Ashley still had nightmares about that night, as it was the night she almost died. She spent two weeks in a coma, and no one thought she was ever going to walk again.

"You do realize that it is 2:00 in the morning right?" a familiar voice said to her from behind

Ashley turned around to see Alfred standing in his pajamas behind her

"I couldn't sleep." Ashley explained

"Would you like tea?" Alfred offered

Ashley sighed and tilted her head to the right side.

"Sure" she smiled

Sure enough, Alfred was standing on one side of the kitchen counter with Ashley sitting on the other side. Both were drinking hot tea from their mugs in silence until Alfred broke the silence.

"I remember when you were little and you use to get up and wonder around." Alfred began "I also remember when you were awake; you always were clutching that white stuffed animal your mother gave you when you were an infant."

Ashley huffed in amusement "Well, I still wonder around when I can't sleep, though that rabbit has retreated into a box in my closet. I also remember when I was little, my father use to drink away his problems. He use to think I didn't notice but…after mom died, I think he use to drink away the stress."

"Master Wayne was under a difficult time in his life. He was just beginning to get over the death of his parents when your mother died. I once told him that you would inherit an empty wine cellar if he kept drinking the way he did." Alfred explained and Ashley nodded

Silence came over both of them again for a while. Meanwhile, Dick got up and crept down the hall as he could hear talking from his bedroom. He was leaning against a wall in the hallway so neither voice could see him. That was when he heard Alfred said:

"Why aren't you going to help Master Richard?"

Ashley sighed "I'm just…I can't believe I'm going to say this but…I'm scared."

"Why?" Alfred asked

Ashley sighed again "I almost died the last time. I just…don't want to put anyone in danger again."

'That's why she's hesitant' Dick thought to himself

"I just don't want to let anyone down." Ashley explained

"I can assure you that you won't. You are the key to bringing everyone together. I don't think that Master Richard would be as 'enthusiastic' as he is now if you weren't here. Just think about it." Alfred explained

They talked for a few minutes more before Ashley decided to go to bed. Dick quickly ran into his room to avoid speaking to Ashley and to avoid being seen by her. Dick then knew what he was working with.

As Ashley went to sleep that night, she realized that if she wanted to get her father back, she needed abandon her past issues, and return to the life she once knew. She woke up early the next morning as she heard the sound of voices coming from outside. Looking out, she saw Dick running with Tim, Barbara, and Damian all on the running path. Ashley smiled to herself and got out of bed. She changed into her running clothes and proceeded onto the path.

"What're you doing out here?" Dick asked as Ashley approached the group

"I realized that I needed to abandon my past animosities and…see my full potential." Ashley explained

"Okay, explain what you just said again, but in English." Tim explained

Kate sighed "She's basically saying that she realized she needed to get off her ass"

Tim raised an eyebrow before Ashley said "I'm going to help you guys find my dad…on the front lines."

Dick smiled "Welcome back…training begins right now, so buckle up…it's going to be a long ride."

As the training continued, Dick realized that while Ashley had almost 6 years without having any type of training (except going to the gym, but he didn't count that) she was doing the tasks he'd make her do just as if they were training together 6 years ago. The only real challenge that Dick installed was one that Bruce made the two of them do years ago. When Dick and Ashley started dating, he bought a black jeep that had 4-wheel drive so Ashley could use it, (As her Porsche can't go thru snow very well), he could use it if he needed to go to San Francisco for the Titans, and it had enough seats to fit five if necessary. When Dick bought it, Bruce thought it would be a great challenge for Dick and Ashley to try and push it up a hill. Both of them had issues doing it, but eventually, they did it.

Dick decided it would be a fun challenge for him and Ashley to push his 'new' jeep up the same hill. Sure enough, with some effort, grunts, and cursing from both of them, they did it. Once they were finished, Ashley bent down and put her hands on her knees before glancing up at Dick:

"I think I pulled out my back."

Dick in response lay down on the ground on his back and groaned. "That makes two of us."

She lay down on the ground next to him and sighed "I can't believe we just did that."

"I know, I'm regretting that we did." Dick replied and she laughed

Alfred who had been watching the whole challenge from the house came outside and stood near Kate and Tim.

"Are they alright?" Alfred asked

"Yeah" Tim replied "They're just realizing their old."

"You know we can hear you right?" Dick asked loudly

"You do realize that we're 5 years older than you right?" Ashley asked

"Shut up!" Tim replied

"I wanted to inform Master Richard and Miss Ashley that lunch is ready." Alfred explained

"We'll be there in a minute Alfred; we're just…trying to stay alive right now. You guys go without us." Ashley replied and Kate, Tim, and Alfred went inside to eat lunch

Dick sighed and looked over at Ashley who looked back at him. She was out of breath, sweaty, and her hair was a mess, but Dick still thought she looked beautiful. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud to her, he felt it often, and he knew, one way or another, he would eventually tell her, that he still loves her.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next week, Dick worked on training Tim, Kate, and Ashley. The training ranged from using weapons to fight, agility, hand-to-hand, and overall evaluations on their skills in fighting. While he wasn't that worried about Kate and Tim, he was more worried that Ashley forgot all of the lessons Bruce taught her on self-defense. He was oh so wrong about that. Not only did she exceed his expectations, but her hand-to-hand fighting skills were evenly matched with his. He found this out, training with her one night in the gym:

"So, you know the drill." Dick began "No weapons, no extra help, no…"

"Fun?" Ashley asked as she crossed her arms

"You're difficult to please." Dick replied making Ashley laugh

"And you just realize this now?" Ashley asked raising an eyebrow

"Stop" Dick said as the two started to circle each other in their fighting stances "This needs some kind of stakes" he challenged "Whoever loses has to buy the other drinks"

"You're on" Ashley smirked

Dick made the first move and aimed a kick at Ashley's hip, making Ashley block with a punch aimed at his head, but Dick ducked fast and went for her feet by sweeping at them. The one thing he knew was that Ashley was good at was using her legs to fight, as she made the first hit with a kick to his left shoulder. What they didn't expect was for how long the fight was going on for. Dick grappled Ashley, and even though Ashley used all of her weight against him, to hurl herself over him, he grabbed her leg on the way down, and pinned her to the ground with one hand holding her arms above her head and the other holding her waist.

Both were panting and breathing heavily. Dick looked into Ashley's joy filled green eyes:

"I win" he proclaimed

Ashley raised her eyebrows "Did you?"

The next thing he knew was the Ashley wrapped her legs around his neck pulling him off of her and reversing their roles causing Ashley to be on top pinning Dick to the ground. Ashley smirked and raised an eyebrow:

"I win"

They stayed like that for a few minutes as both of them called their breathing before Ashley eased off and stood up. Dick slowly got up and dabbed his right thumb against his lower lip as it drew blood.

Ashley was drinking from her water bottle as Dick used the small hand towel to clean up the blood. After Ashley put her water bottle down, she turned to Dick:

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." She explained grabbing another towel to wipe her sweat off her forehead

"It's okay." He replied "I've had much worse."

"No, really" Ashley began "I'm sorry…for everything."

Dick turned towards her to see the seriousness in her face and his face softened "I'm sorry too."

Ashley grabbed her phone and began to ascend the stairs with Dick trailing after her:

"So when are we going for drinks?" Dick asked making Ashley shake her head in amusement as she walked into the living room

Currently, her brother was there with Tim going a couple rounds at video games while Kate and Alfred were in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"What do you mean?" Ashley questioned

"C'mon, you won the bet, you beat me fair and square, and therefore the loser buys the other drinks. So again, my question is, when are we going for drinks?" Dick asked making Ashley roll her eyes

"I honestly don't care. We can go out tonight if you want." Ashley said crossing her arms "As friends."

Dick internally sighed but replied "Deal."

Sure enough after dinner was over, Dick and Ashley went to shower and change before going out for drinks. While walking down the hall towards his room, Tim noticed Dick's door was open slightly. Tim, being the nosy one of the group decided to intrude to find Dick pacing back and forth. He looked different, but good different Tim thought.

"Look at you making an effort" Tim said with a smirk making Dick turn around and frown

"Really?" Dick said "We're just going out for a few beers as friends."

"Uh-huh." Tim said with an eyebrow raised "Is that why you're wearing after-shave? Or why you're wearing kind of nice casual clothes?"

Dick looked down at his outfit; he was wearing a pair of dark jeans, a black jacket, and a dark grey shirt underneath.

"What's wrong with it?" Dick asked

"Nothing" Tim replied with a smirk

"I don't have time for this." Dick replied walking past Tim and out of his room

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Tim called

Dick went into the living room to find Ashley leaning against the couch typing away on her phone. She was wearing her black reading glasses, a pair of black pants, a black jacket that probably was more expensive than the one he had on, a pair of black ankle boots, and a navy blue v-neck T-shirt. Her brown hair was pulled into a high pony tail.

"You ready?" Dick asked making Ashley look up from her phone

"Yeah" she replied

About 30 minutes later, the two of them were drinking beers at a high-top table in one of the best bars in Gotham.

"…So I tried telling them to not microwave it and the next thing I knew the kitchen in the tower was completely covered in goo." Dick explained in between laughs

"Oh my god." Ashley said laughing along. Once she stopped laughing she said "Sometimes I miss those guys at the tower, but then I remember that half of them were mad that I left the team."

"I know" Dick replied "But they realized that after you left, the 'mom' was gone."

"The mom?" Ashley asked "I'm the mom?"

"Well, when we all fought with each other and you ended it, you always said 'why do I always have to be the mom?'" Dick explained making Ashley laugh again

"You and I both know that you acted like kindergarteners." Ashley explained before she took a sip of her beer "I mean I can understand that Rachel and Gar acted that way because they are teenagers, but everyone else…no…I can't understand it."

"Sometimes they really did feel like kids…our kids." Dick said

Ashley nodded "I know."

They stayed there for who knows how many hours talking before one of the workers informed both of them that they were closing up. As Dick and Ashley were walking to the car, they both noticed something very familiar…all too familiar in the sky…the Bat Signal.

"Does he not realize that my Dad hasn't been around in a year?" Ashley asked as they walked down the street. Dick began to notice that she was not walking in a straight line and realized she was just slightly drunk.

"I don't know Ash…it's been a while since I've been in or on the roof of that Police Department." Dick explained opening the door to the car for Ashley who was stumbling a little bit

"Doesn't make any sense" Ashley slurred once Dick was in the car "You're a cop."

"Detective" Dick corrected "And I am one…in Bludhaven. I'm not one in Gotham."

Ashley drunkenly giggled "A cop can't go into a police department because he's another police department's cop. That's stupid."

Dick remembered when Ashley would get drunk. Ashley would get so drunk to the point were when they both were living in San Francisco, Dick would physically carry her to his bed so he could keep an eye on her. Once they were back at the house, Dick grabbed Ashley who was half-asleep and picked her up to carry her into the house. As he walked down the hall, he passed Alfred who raised an eyebrow:

"What happened?" he asked quietly

"She's drunk." Dick explained as he used his one free hand to open the door to Ashley's room "Night Alfred"

"Goodnight Master Richard." Alfred sighed before proceeding down the hall to his own room

Once inside her room, Dick gently placed Ashley on the bed. As he was walking out, Ashley grabbed onto his right wrist tightly.

"Stay" she whispered

"Ashley I can't" Dick replied

"Who says you can't?" Ashley asked

"Alright, I'll sleep on the floor." Dick responded

"No" she quickly replied "With me"

Dick sighed knowing that drunken Ashley and her decisions were totally different on many levels than sober Ashley and her decisions. But the one thing he did know was that whether she was drunk or sober, angry Ashley was not to be messed with. Knowing that he didn't want her to fall off the bed in the middle of the night, he replied:

"Fine, but can I at least change into my pajamas?"

Ashley sighed "Fine"

Dick went back to his room and put his pajamas on before walking back into Ashley's room. After quietly closing the door, he walked over to the right side of the bed because Ashley always liked sleeping on the left side. Ashley was already in bed, under the covers and sleeping. He pulled back the sheets before realizing that Ashley was sleeping in her underwear. Dick then remembered that when Ashley got drunk, she always slept in her underwear. Dick sighed before crawling into bed beside her and turning away from her to face the window.

"Goodnight Ash" Dick said calmly

Her response was a slight groan that made him roll his eyes. He sighed internally before letting sleep take over.

The next morning when Dick woke up, he realized one of two things. The first was that it was 5:30, so he was up earlier than usual, and the second was that Ashley was wrapped around him. Ashley was currently still asleep, but her position was not only satisfying but terrifying. She was curled onto her side, with her left hand clutching the sheets, with her right hand draped across his stomach. Her head was on his chest and he realized that his right arm was wrapped around her body. This was all too familiar yet strange at the same time for him, but he couldn't dwell on it now.

He knew if Ashley woke up, she would kill him. He carefully slid out of her bed before covering her back up. He quietly opened her bedroom door and walked out and carefully closed it. It was then when he was met by Damian, Tim and Kate in the hall. Tim looked like he was frozen from the waist up, Kate had both of her eyebrows raised, and Damian had a frown.

"Uhh" Dick began "Good morning"

He then walked past them and went into his room, while the three of them stood motionless in the hallway. That was when Dick knew, that an interrogation was in the near future for him.


	8. Chapter 8

"So, you guys finally slept together again, was it just like you remembered?" Tim asked Dick while they were in the gym. Kate and Damian were there as well since it was the weekend. Ashley however was doing some paperwork in Bruce's old office so she was unaware of the encounter.

"What? No!" Dick snapped "We did not sleep together like that. I mean we slept in the same bed but we didn't …you know."

"But she was in her underwear? You can also say sex, I'm not a kid anymore Grayson." Damian replied crossing his arms

"You'll always be a kid in my eyes, I've known you since you were 10, but like I was saying…"

"Grayson, you don't have to keep it PG, just let us know if you and Ashley fucked or not." Kate blurted out getting weird looks from the rest of the group

"A little harsh Kate?" Tim asked

"I'm sorry, but I feel like Dick and Ashley have the biggest unresolved awkward sexual tension that is making me want to say to the both of you to get a fucking room." Kate explained

"As I was saying" Dick said sternly earning an eye roll from Kate "When we were dating, and she would get drunk, she would sleep in her underwear as she would get hot from all of the alcohol she consumed or something like that. So when I walked into her room FULLY CLOTHED" Dick said louder than before "She was already asleep, in her underwear. I originally wanted to sleep on the floor, but I didn't really want to mess with drunk Ashley. She suggested that I sleep in her bed with her, I did not."

"Okay but" Tim began but he was stopped when Dick put his hand up indicating he was not finished

"So when I was in her room, I climbed into bed and faced the window. She was facing the door, and I said 'Goodnight Ash' and I swear I heard a groan, but I think she meant to say something like 'Go to Hell.' When I woke up, she was no exaggeration curled up next to me. Yes, I did have my right arm around her; however, I did not make her cuddle me. She cuddled me somewhere in the middle of the night. So no Tim, we did not have sex. Does that answer your question?" Dick concluded

"Part of it, my actual question was that did you enjoy her being next to you though?" Tim asked and Dick sighed

In reality, while Dick thought it was a little bit awkward, he did enjoy waking up to Ashley in his arms. He always did. He enjoyed it more than he did with either Kory or Barbara. For some reason, out of all of the women he dated over the past 6 years, none of them were as beautiful as Ashley. Or at least in his eyes.

"I am not answering that question." Dick replied and Tim and the others walked out

Later that night, while he was in the Bat-Cave working on tracking Bruce, Tim came down the stairs to the desk where Dick was looking at some files on possible suspects for Bruce's disappearance.

"What do you want Tim?" Dick asked not looking up from the files

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to let you know that your former Cinderella is going to the ball tonight." Tim explained as he sat in the other desk chair by the old model of the Batman helmet

"What ball Tim?" Dick asked looking back to the computer

"The charity ball that Wayne Enterprises hosts for the orphanage. She has to go, I think she already left. She looked hot." Tim replied purposely to push Dick's buttons to make him go to the party

Tim notices Dick shift uncomfortably in his seat meaning he was getting to him:

"To bad too, I heard Luke's her date tonight." Tim said making Dick turnaround from the computer screen to look Tim in the eye

"He has a girlfriend, Ash told me so" Dick explained

"That's not what I heard" Tim replied making Dick raise an eyebrow

Tim knew that Luke wouldn't be going to the ball, but making it seem like he was and getting Dick angry, was just the first step of his, Kate's and Damian's plan on getting Dick and Ashley back together.

"You know what" Dick began "I think I'm going to go too…for extra security. I mean since Bruce is missing Ashley could be considered a target so…I should go"

Dick turned back around to face the screen to turn off the computers before practically running up the stairs to change into something more suitable for a charity gala than his current attire. Eventually with Alfred's help, he was dressed and ready to go to his tux and driving into Gotham to make sure Ashley was 'safe'.

Eventually he made it to the gala, but due to the amount of people he had trouble finding Ashley. With no luck of finding his ex-girlfriend, Dick decided to go to the bar.

"Can I have a scotch on the rocks please?" Dick asked and the bartender nodded

Once his drink was poured Dick took it and was about to drink it before a familiar voice was heard:

"Dick?"

Dick turned around to see James Gordon with a drink also in his hand.

"Commissioner Gordon, it's been a while" Dick replied placing the drink he had in his hand on the bar and shook his hand

"It has, how have you been?" Jim asked

"Oh you know, eventful. I've been traveling but currently I'm helping out the Wayne's right now since you know what happened with Bruce." Dick explained and Jim's face fell

"It's a shame what happened to Bruce Wayne, it must have been a lot for you, Ashley, and her brother to take in." Jim replied and Dick nodded

"It was, but we all got through it." Dick explained

"I spoke with Ashley earlier and she was saying that Wayne Enterprises was at an all high and I began to tell her that…"

As Jim began talking, Dick spotted his target. She was standing with her back facing him with her brown hair down and straitened with a slight wave to it. When she turned to the side, he saw part of her long black evening gown with a thigh-high slit up the left leg. The dress was strapless and the sides were see-thru. She had a necklace on that was blue Safire with a few diamonds surrounding the center stone. She looked gorgeous and so not like herself.

"So I was wondering if you would tell Ashley about the project that I was hoping would go into place?" Jim asked

"I'll tell you what" Dick said not taking his eyes off of Ashley "I'll talk to her right now and I'll get back to you soon."

Dick walked towards Ashley at the right moment just as the people she was speaking too walked away. He tapped her shoulder:

"I didn't recognize you" He said making her turn around in shock

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked eyeing him up and down

"Tim sent me to be your extra 'security'" Dick explained making Ashley raise her eyebrows "You look fantastic by the way."

"Thank you" she blushed

"Do you uh…want to uh…dance?" Dick asked

Ashley mentally sighed '_Don't do it Ashley, you're stronger than this'_ she thought but she replied:

"Okay"

Dick grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor. As they started to dance slowly to the beat of the music, Ashley looked everywhere around the room except at Dick.

"Ash, if your uncomfortable, we can stop dancing." Dick replied

"No it's not that it's just that…Luthor is here and I don't trust him." Ashley explained

"He got out of prison?" Dick asked

"Yeah" Ashley said nervously "He served his time."

"Let's get some air." Dick suggested and Ashley nodded

Dick led Ashley outside to a balcony that overlooked the city.

"Are you alright?" Dick asked

"I'm just worried that something's going to happen tonight. I don't feel safe." Ashley explained

"You know I'm here for security." Dick replied "Nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here."

Ashley began to rub her arms and Dick took off his suit jacket and gave it to her:

"Here, so you need it more than I do." Dick explained as Ashley put his jacket on

"Thanks" Ashley sighed

The next thing they heard was a loud boom. Making both of their heads snap towards the ballroom.

"Get somewhere safe." Dick said as he began to take off his pants

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ashley asked

"You don't think I came prepared?" Dick asked as he took off his shirt revealing the Nightwing suit he was wearing underneath his tux. He pulled out his mask from his back pocket before Ashley replied:

"Your unbelievable"

"Thanks sweetheart" Dick replied with a wink making Ashley roll her eyes

"Flirting will get you nowhere Grayson; you should know that by know with me." Ashley explained putting her hands on her hips

"Oh don't I know that, get somewhere safe…I'll handle this." Dick replied before walking back into the ballroom, this time as Nightwing.

There were people running around in horror, away from the person that was causing the chaos. It was a person that had two guns that he was firing; his face was covered with a fire-engine red hood and had two katana swords on their back along with a crowbar.

"So…you come to the upper-class's gala to what? Get with Ashley Wayne?" Dick said as he walked closer to the man making him turn around

"Well step in line pal, every guy in Gotham wants to get with her, it's because she's fucking hot but you probably already knew that." Dick said reaching behind him to grab his Escrima sticks. He gave them a twirl before getting into his fighting stance

The man in the red hood began to attack Dick and Dick fought back using every fighting skill he knew. They went at it for a few minutes before the man in the red hoof tackled dick and aimed one of the guns at his head. Dick prepared for the worst, but all of that changed when the man in the red hood was hit with an electric shock gun. The shock from the gun made him roll off Dick, which made Dick realize who fired it. Ashley who was wearing the Nightingale suit complete with a mask, two guns of her own, and two Frisbee like electro-disks that could electrocute someone if they hit their target. The man in the red hood ran out of the room and jumped off the balcony making Ashley run after him, but by the time she got to the balcony, he was gone.

"Fuck" Ashley murmured

She then walked back into the deserted ballroom to see Dick still on the floor. When she stood over him she smiled:

"I didn't say I didn't come prepared as well."

Dick smiled back and Ashley helped him back up. Dick noticed a spot of blood on the ground and collected it using a data sample tube. They then heard police sirens in the distance and both decided to change back into their previous attire to meet with the Gotham City Police Department before heading back to the house.

Once they were back at the house they were in the Bat-Cave analyzing the blood sample.

"It'll take all night but it should tell us who that guy was." Dick said as he took off his tuxedo jacket "I have a feeling that we'll be seeing him again."

Ashley nodded making Dick wonder if she was okay.

"Are you okay?" Dick asked stepping into her space a little

"Yeah, it's just everything is changing. I feel like I know that guy but I can't put my finger on where I've seen fighting styles like that." She explained

"We'll find him, and we'll find your father." Dick reassured "I promise."

"Onto other news" Ashley began "Do you really thing I'm 'fucking hot'?"

Dick sighed "It was an example"

"You didn't answer my question." Ashley replied "And don't bullshit me Grayson"

"I…I…I…uh" Dick began

"Your stumbling, when you know I'm right you stumble when you talk." Ashley said with a small smirk

"I think you're wrong" Dick replied

"I know I'm right." Ashley replied

"Wrong"

"Right"

"Wrong"

"Right"

"Wrong"

"Right"

Dick was about to reply but he realized how close they were and instead of replying, he did the thing he wanted to do, since he saw her when he broke into her apartment 1 year ago, kiss her. Dick put his hands on Ashley's waist, and Ashley wrapped her arms around his neck as the kiss grew more and more passionate.

When they eventually pulled away they stared at each other. Ashley opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but no words came out. Dick also was about to say something, but all of that was interrupted when the computer found a match to the man in the red hood's blood. Both looked at the screen and their eyes widened in shock.

"No fucking way" Dick said in shock

"That's impossible." Ashley said in agreement

On the screen, was a picture of the person in which the blood belonged to, and that person was none other than Jason Todd.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Ashley's Dress: ** gustavo-cadile-corsetted-sheer-panel-sequin-column-dress/product/0400011647063?FOLDER_id=2534374306418059&R=400116470658&P_name=Gustavo+Cadile&N=306418059&bmUID=mRNYE_U


	9. Chapter 9

For the next hour and a half, both of them came up with the weirdest ideas on how Jason was still alive. Some of their ideas were so out of the box that they had to laugh at a few of them. Ashley then decided to do what any person would due in a crisis like this. Have a family meeting. After waking her brother, Kate, and Tim up and changing into more comfortable clothes, they proceeded to the Bat-Cave where Dick and Ashley held a family meeting at exactly 1:30 in the morning.

"You all know who this person is" Ashley began pointing at the computer screen that had Jason's picture on it "I want to know how the hell is this kid still alive because once upon a time Dick, Tim, my father and I all saw the Joker murder his ass."

"I was there" Tim said with a sigh "I don't know how he's alive."

"We need ideas, does anyone have any ideas?" Dick asked from his position from leaning up against the desk facing the group.

"What about the mother boxes? Didn't Bruce use one to bring Superman back to life?" Kate asked

"Yes, however they are safely stored away with the league now" Ashley explained

"Plus they're behind encrypted vaults that even the world's most expert IT specialists can't crack." Dick continued

"How do you know?" Tim asked raising an eyebrow

"I tried" Ashley replied

After a brief silence, Damian spoke:

"There's only one thing that I know of that could bring a person like that back to life."

Ashley glanced at her brother who had his head down. Damian then raised his head up, looked his sister in the eye and replied:

"The Lazarus Pit."

Ashley's eyes widened before glancing at Dick who looked back at Damian.

"I need you to explain something's for us okay?" Dick asked and Damian nodded

"Did you ever see anyone other than Ra's use the pit?" Dick asked "Anyone at all?"

Damian was silent for a moment before replying "I was about 9 year old, I remember seeing another man come to the compound. Mother and Grandfather met him at the gates, he had a body bag. I remember walking past the door to the Lazarus Pit where I heard cackling and screaming. The person who emerged looked like an enraged version of Jason Todd."

"Who was the person that brought him?" Ashley asked

"I can't remember" Damian asked

Ashley sighed in frustration.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember" Damian replied

"It's okay" Kate reassured "Even that little bit of information, helped your sister. What are you going to do now?"

Ashley glanced at Dick who nodded. Ashley grabbed the keys on the desk and tossed them to Dick who then proceeded upstairs.

"Where are you two going?" Kate asked

"The only way we can know that it's truly Jason is if we…dig up the grave." Ashley explained "If the body's missing, then we know he's alive."

After grabbing the supplies they needed, they drove to the cemetery where Jason's body was buried, which was the private cemetery on the Wayne Property. Both of them glanced at each other with fear in their eyes not knowing what they would find. They knew if Jason's body was still there, they would be 'disturbing his rest' and if his body wasn't there, they weren't going to rest until they found him and Bruce. Once they reached Jason's grave, they began to dig. About an hour went by before they reached Jason's coffin and Dick hesitated before he opened it.

"I don't understand…it's empty." Dick said as he looked inside

As he turned around to speak to Ashley but realized she was gone.

"Ash? Ashley?" Dick called out before something hit the back of his head and everything went black.

As Dick started to slowly come back into consciousness, he noticed that he was tied to a chair and in an abandoned warehouse. He then realized he was not alone. Two other people were in the room, Ashley, who was conscious was sitting in back of him tied to another chair as well. The other person was pacing back and forth. When Dick's eyesight came back into focus, he realized, it was the man in the red hood.

"I knew you wanted to hookup with Ashley Wayne. I mean dude, you have her tied to a chair." Dick said smartly making Ashley roll her eyes

"What are you gonna do to her? Get into S&M and everything?" Dick asked making Ashley scoff

"Dick, please stop" Ashley responded "You're still not off the hook because you kissed me"

"Are you telling me you didn't enjoy it?" Dick asked

"I'm not, however I would say that you looked like you did" Ashley replied

"Oh I did" Dick replied "I'm guessing you enjoyed it?"

"Dick" Ashley began

"Ash" Dick responded in the same tone

"Be quiet!" The man in the red hood yelled at both of them

After they both were quiet, the man in the red hood slowly took off the red hood and sighed:

"You know, over the years, I never trusted anyone. When I saw you both at the gala tonight, I thought you were fakes, then after you're goddamn bickering, I fucking realized that you two are the ones that I remember." He said making Ashley's eyes widen

"Tell me something only you would know" Ashley said in a hopeful tone

"You have 3 tattoos on your body. One on your lower back, one on your right foot, and the other is one your left ribcage." The voice replied

"When did I get the tattoo on my foot?" Ashley asked

"You were 16; Bruce wanted to kill you as he hated people with Tattoos." The voice replied

Ashley's eyes widened as she realized it was Jason. The voice, the sound, the sarcasm, the smell of cigarettes and alcohol all flooded her memory like a river running thru a small town. Walking towards both of them, the man in the red hood took off his mask to revel that he was in fact, Jason Todd. Ashley gave him a half smile as she over looked his physical stature. Jason still had his dark brown hair, thought the only thing different about him was that he had a white streak running through it. '_A Lazarus Pit side effect'_ she thought.

"I knew I was right" Dick said triumphantly "But…how are you not a psycho?"

Jason laughed in amusement before replying "It took me a long time Golden Boy. The Joker originally had me on a killing spree for a while in Gotham. It took me a while but I eventually snapped out of it, only killed when I needed to. I just wanted to live alone in peace away from everyone, until they announced that Batman was missing. That's when I needed to become the Red Hood again, to avenge Bruce. I'm sorry if I hurt either of you. I didn't mean it."

Ashley sighed "Its okay I forgive you"

"Same" Dick explained "If you could un-tie us that would be great"

Jason smiled in response as he untied Dick and Ashley. Once they were untied, Dick explained the situation to Jason who reluctantly agreed to come back to the house with them, to help find Bruce. Ashley glanced at her phone while they were in the car, it was 3:15 in the morning and she figured that no one would be awake. Once they were back at the house, Dick escorted Jason to his room before closing the door behind him. Dick then met Ashley down in the Batcave.

"With these files that Jason provided us, I think we can really begin a huge search on looking for my Dad." Ashley began

"Yeah" Dick sighed "I hate to change the subject but"

Ashley rolled her eyes

"Did you really like the kiss?" he asked and Ashley ignored the comment

"I'm going to bed" Ashley replied as she turned on her heel and began to ascend the stairs

"You can't ignore me forever" Dick replied making her turn around in anger

"I can and I will!" Ashley snapped

"Why won't you trust me? Maybe we could give us another go?" Dick replied making Ashley scoff

"You're so fucking delusional Dick it's not even funny." Ashley retorted before Dick stopped her

"Why won't you let me in?" Dick asked in a tone that sounded angrier than the previous one

"Let's see" Ashley began "The last time I let you into my life, it effected the team's relationship, and it permanently effected our relationship. I also remember the fact that you cheated on me towards the end of our relationship that pushed us over the edge. That's why I don't trust you Dick."

"Ashley, c'mon you know I've changed" Dick began

"Have you?" Ashley asked in anger

Dick sighed and glanced down before he looked her in the eye. Her green eyes were glistening and she looked like she was on verge of crying.

"Why the hell are you even here Dick?" Ashley began "You and my dad hate each other as he technically fired you from being Robin. Why the hell are you here, because I sure as hell know it's not to help me find Bruce?"

"Ash" Dick began

"Don't bullshit me Dick; you didn't come back because we were a sob story. I'm smarter than that, and you should know that!" Ashley snapped

"Ashley" Dick continued

"Why do you even care about us?" she continued "The only thing you care about is yourself because you're the biggest mother-fucking…"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" Dick shouted making Ashley stop talking

"What?" she asked in a voice that a person couldn't even classify as a whisper

"You wanted to know the reason why I came back…the truth is…I'm still in love with you." He explained

Ashley stood facing him in shock, as she didn't know what to say.

"I love you, I've always loved you." Dick replied "You are all I have left"

Ashley internally sighed before she quietly replied "I'm going to bed." Before she slowly ascended the stairs leaving Dick alone once again.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

**Jason's faceclaim is Miles Teller.**

* * *

Tim woke up early the next morning and decided that he'd do Alfred a huge favor and make breakfast for everyone. However, all of that changed when he walked into the kitchen and saw a familiar face drinking coffee with brandy in it.

"Timmy! Want some brandy?" Jason asked in a happy tone making Tim raise an eyebrow

"Damian, Alfred, we have a mirage in the kitchen!" Tim called out to Damian and Alfred who were down the hall speaking to Dick and Kate.

"Relax" Dick explained "It's really Jason. My theory of him being alive was actually true so, he's alive."

"Yep, saw him and scary lady last night. Figured I might as well help you morons find Batsy since you are all so clueless." Jason explained

Tim relaxed as well did everyone else as they all sat around the table and began to eat breakfast.

"Where's Ashley?" Kate asked

"Probably practicing witchcraft on some puppies." Jason sarcastically said with a laugh making Damian laugh as well

"I believe Ms. Wayne, left for Gotham rather early this morning. She said something about a board meeting." Alfred explained

Dick was thinking about what he said to Ashley last night and realized that he couldn't lose her again. He loved her too much to lose her. He knew that she had trust issues with him. Most of it was because he felt he was unsatisfied in their relationship, but that was also his fault as he spent more time with the team than he did with Ashley. Ashley felt that she wanted to leave that life behind her, and Dick didn't. This caused Dick to start cheating on her with Kory, and when Ashley found out, everything came crashing down in their relationship.

"I have to go to Gotham." Dick announced as he got up from the table "I need to grab new stuff to repair my gear"

"Yeah, sure you do" Tim said skeptically

As Dick began to walk out of the room Kate called out:

"Go get her Grayson!"

"Make good choices Golden Boy!" Jason also called out

Dick grabbed his keys and drove into Gotham, in hopes on figuring out where he and Ashley stood in their relationship. Upon walking into the Wayne Enterprises building in Gotham, he was stopped by Ashley's assistant, Tiffany:

"Who are you here to see?" she asked

"Ashley Wayne" Dick responded

"Do you have an appointment?" she questioned

"No" Dick replied

"I'll ask her if she wants to see you." Tiffany said getting up from her desk and going into Ashley's office

"Ms. Wayne?" Tiffany asked

"Yes" Ashley replied after she took a sip of her coffee and placed her feet on the desk

"There is a man here to see you…he says he's a friend of yours. He showed ID and I had security do a background check and everything was clear. Is it okay if I send him in?" Tiffany asked

"Yeah" Ashley replied

Tiffany opened the door wider and Dick walked in making Ashley's eyes widen like golf balls. Once Tiffany shut the door, Dick walked over to the desk and stood in front of it.

"Nice office" Dick replied looking around the room

"Sit down." Ashley replied sternly and Dick sat down in the chair in front of her desk

"Why are you here?" she asked as she took her feet off the desk

"I wanted to talk to you about last night…and I wanted to apologize for everything." Dick explained

"That's it?" Ashley asked crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows

"No, I wanted to seriously apologize for everything that happened between us six years ago. I know I'm a little late in doing so but…fuck…Ashley I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I don't expect you to forgive me but…" Dick began

"I forgive you" Ashley replied quietly making Dick stop his talking

"Really?" Dick asked

"Six years have gone by and I've changed quite a bit, so when I say I forgive you, I forgive you." Ashley explained and Dick gave her a small smile

"Okay, I have a question" Dick said making Ashley roll her eyes

"What now?" she questioned

"I was wondering if you would be willing to come out on patrol with me in Bludhaven tonight. You know, like the good old days." Dick replied and Ashley leaned back in her chair

"Like a date?" Ashley asked

"Oh fuck no, this is not a date, we are going on patrol." Dick replied "C'mon Ash, it'll be fun."

Ashley sighed before giving him a small smile and nodding her head yes. Sure enough, that evening, Dick and Ashley were on patrol in Bludhaven as Nightwing and Nightingale. For the first few hours Ashley began to remember when they were dating and they would go on patrol, Dick would treat it as a date, and Ashley would treat it as a stupid job. Tonight however, this all changed. They were working as friends not as partners.

What snapped Ashley out of her trance was an explosion. Turns out the explosion was caused by their most annoying enemy and perhaps one of their most stupid enemies, Blockbuster. As people began to run away, both of them walked slowly towards Blockbuster with their weapons in hand.

"Yo asshole!" Dick called making Blockbuster turn around

"Miss us?" Dick said with a smirk

"Never" Blockbuster smirked "I see you brought back your sidekick, what hell-hole you crawled out of?"

"The same one you're going back into" Ashley said as she charged her electro-disks so they were powered and ready to be thrown.

Blockbuster didn't respond and began to attack Dick and Ashley. Both of them fended him off but all came crashing down when Blockbuster pulled out a gun, and fired right at Ashley. While Ashley dodged the bullet, Blockbuster hit her with a car sending her flying through the window of a store. It didn't take long before Dick had him held down by dropping a wrecking ball from a construction site onto him before he went over to Ashley. First he thought that Ashley was unconscious, but when she sat up when she saw him, he realized that she was okay. A little beaten up, but okay.

"You need medical attention" Dick said looking at the right side of her collar bone which had some blood trickling out of it "Closest place is my apartment, I have to go there anyways."

Ashley didn't even protest and followed Dick back to his apartment. After taking both of their masks off, they opened the door to the apartment. When Dick opened the door to the apartment, Ashley didn't expect a dog to practically tackle her and shower her with love and affection. After glancing at the dog, she realized that it was technically 'their' dog, even though Dick had it at his house. When Dick and Ashley started dating, Dick had bought a dog that was an Australian Sheppard and he let Ashley name it. She named it Blu, after the fact that the dog has blue eyes and the blue merle coloring on it.

"BLU!" Ashley said with glee as she pet the dog with her left hand

"I guess he misses you" Dick said as he led her to his room where his med supplies were. Blu followed intently behind both of them, but after reaching Dick's room, he laid down on his bed in the corner by the window.

"Here" Dick said giving Ashley an old pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt that looked like hers "You left these here, I hope they fit you."

"They will." Ashley murmured "Thank you"

Ashley went into the bathroom and changed into her sweats that she left at Dick's apartment. When she opened the door, she found Dick also in his pajamas waiting to get into the bathroom. Ashley sat hesitantly down on the bed and watched Dick rummage thru his bathroom cabinets. By the time Dick walked back into the room with the first aid kit, Ashley had already begun tending to her cut. Dick slowly removed Ashley's hand from the cut and applied pressure using some of the gauze he had. Once she was bandaged, Dick sat down beside her and sighed.

"Thanks" Ashley murmured turning towards him

"No problem" Dick replied he said turning towards her.

Both of them looked over the other's facial expressions and the next thing they knew, they both started kissing. Neither of them knew which one leaned in first, but it was quickly met by the other. The kiss started to grow more and more passionate which led to Ashley laying back on the bed, and Dick on top of her. Without breaking the kiss Ashley grabbed the bottom of Dick's shirt and began to pull it off of him. Dick stopped kissing her and pulled away and asked the famous question:

"Are you sure?"

"It's okay." She quietly nodded "I trust you"

Dick then went back to kissing her, as their night continued.

**Meanwhile in the Bat-Cave**

Jason, Tim, and Kate were reviewing the security footage that one of Jason's spy cameras had in the warehouse the night that Bruce disappeared. They all were in the Bat-Cave eating leftover Beef Stroganoff that Alfred made earlier that evening for dinner.

"Run it back again Red. I think I saw something." Jason told Kate as the four of them watched the tape over again

Kate replayed the tape and Tim stopped it when he saw the main suspect. It was of a woman, dressed in black, who shot Bruce with a tranquilizer gun making him black out.

"Holy shit!" Kate exclaimed when she saw the woman on the screen

"That's impossible" Tim said in agreement

While the image was blurry of the woman, all three of them knew who she was. Ashley knew that person well all too well. The person who shot Bruce was none other than Ashley's 'dead' mother, Selina Kyle.


	11. Chapter 11

Both of them woke up the next morning and said nothing to the other. The awkward silence between them continued even when they went back to the house. Neither spoke to the other which Jason found suspicious but ignored it overall. When everyone went to bed that night, Jason, Tim, and Kate went to Dick's room to show him what they found on the security camera.

Tim quietly knocked making Dick open the door looking annoyed:

"What do you want?" Dick asked in annoyance

"You need to come with us."Jason explained and Dick raised an eyebrow in response but gradually followed the three of them down to the bat-cave.

Once all four of them were down there, Jason loaded the security footage that he showed Tim and Kate earlier, and Dick didn't know what to say when he surely saw Ashley's mother, who was supposed to be dead, Selina Kyle shoot Bruce.

"How is this possible? She's been dead for 21 years." Dick began when he ran through the footage multiple times

"We don't know, I'm thinking Lazarus Pit" Jason began

"But Bruce wasn't involved with the League until later, after Selina passed away. It could be really anything at this point." Kate explained

"More importantly" Tim began "We need to tell Ashley"

"No" Dick began

"Why?" Jason asked "Keeping secrets may be our way of life but, I don't think that's a good idea Grayson."

"She's got more things to worry about than this. Just let's keep it between the three of us for now, and we'll tell her when things calm down." Dick explained before he walked up the stairs

Everyone else looked at each other and knew that Dick made another huge mistake with regards to Ashley. The next morning, the awkward silence continued between Dick and Ashley which made everyone suspect that their first patrol together went horribly, when in reality it actually went really well, it's just what happened afterwards that made them awkward with each other. Eventually, Tim, Dick, Ashley, and Kate were working in the Bat-Cave on their next move with finding Bruce.

"We should start interrogating someone. Someone should at least have something to do with the 'death' of Batman." Tim began

"Who though?" Jason asked

"Reports still coming in from Friday night's destruction from Blockbuster's attack in Downtown Bludhaven. Reports say around 11:30 on Friday, Blockbuster was attacking a local bank but was stopped by the vigilante Nightwing and what appears to be the vigilante known as Nightingale. If you may or may not know, Nightingale hasn't been on the scene in almost 7 years and apparently sources tell us that it was her. We have experts with us this morning on what this means. Gentlemen what do you-"

Everyone's attention turned to Ashley who was watching the news on a computer screen. She then changed the channel:

"The Nightingale in Bludhaven? Many of us thought she was dead, well apparently, that was not the case last night. Reports say that Nightwing and another vigilante dressed as Nightingale were taking down Blockbuster in the Downtown area of Bludhaven to be honest; I think it's a hoax. As we know, Nightingale is dead. She hasn't come out of the shadows in 7 years making her a big time…"

Ashley turned the screen off before turning around to face everyone else:

"The word is out, apparently everyone thought that I was dead and now due to the news footage, it appears I'm not, which means there will be two people looking for me and at least one of them will want revenge for putting the other behind bars in Arkham." Ashley began

"No" Dick began "No, No, No, you are not doing that again."

"Why not?" Ashley asked crossing her arms

"Because the last time you were alone with those two psychos, you almost died." Dick explained

"I wouldn't be alone." Ashley continued "You would be with me as well."

"It doesn't matter; it's not going to happen." Dick said in anger

"You're not the boss of me!" Ashley snapped

"I'm sorry, but who suggested that I'd bring everyone back together to find Bruce?" Dick asked in the same tone

Kate, Jason, and Tim started to walk out of the room which left Dick and Ashley in there to fight it out as they all knew they didn't want to press the subject.

"I just don't understand why you won't trust me?" she asked in anger

"I do trust you, it's just that…I'm scared." Dick replied making Ashley's eyebrows go up

"What?" she asked in a quieter tone

"The last time you saw one of them; you got shot and were in a coma for two weeks. I can't go through that again." Dick said leaning against the desk

Six years ago, when Ashley got shot by Harley Quinn she was in a coma for 2 weeks and Dick was right there by her side. Bruce was worried not only about his daughter's stake but Dick's well-being as well as he refused to go home and leave Ashley alone. Dick stayed in the hospital all night long in a chair in her room and when Bruce arrived in the morning, Dick went home, took a shower and came back to the hospital to sit with Ashley again. Over those two weeks that she was in the hospital, she got visitors which included her father's friends, Diana, Barry, Clark, and Victor, along with some of Dick's which included Wally, Roy, Rachel, Gar, Donna, Garth and Artemis. Dick remembered the hell everyone went through when she was out of it for those two weeks, and when she woke up, she was never the same. Soon after, Dick and Ashley split up, the Titans broke up, and everyone went their separate ways.

Ashley sighed remembering all that she could of those two weeks six years ago. Knowing that she wouldn't win this fight, she replied:

"I know."

She turned on her heel and went up the stairs and into her room to think about what was going on. About an hour after her argument with Dick, she had a knock on her bedroom door. When she opened it, Dick was on the other side looking apologetic. Ashley said nothing but grabbed him by his shirt, and pulled him into her room. Once he was in her room, she slammed the door shut and turned back around to face him.

"What's wro…?" Dick began but was silence by Ashley pulling him in for a kiss

The rest was history. Hours later they both were lying in Ashley's bed, both without zero clothing on in each other's arms. Ashley was debating on whether on saying something or not, but she realized if she didn't say something, he might not either.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked

"Yeah" he replied "I don't care, I mean we're naked in bed together you can say whatever the fuck you want."

She sighed "I use to be really jealous of you"

"Why?" he asked

"It took me years to try and get my dad out of his state of depression after my mother died, then you come along and he snaps out of it like it was nothing." She began "It's just my whole life, I've been trying to please him and make him proud of me, and then you come along and change everything. I'm not mad, it's just, sometimes you made me want to kill you."

Dick sighed and turned to look Ashley in the eye. He took a piece of her hair and pushed it back behind her ear, this was when he noticed that she didn't flinch or move away from him. He leaned in and kissed her forehead and she closed her eyes in content.

"Look, I know this may seem the wrong time to ask but…" he began

"You want to give us another go?" she questioned with a small smile

"If it would be possible…look I get that you and I have had our ups and downs and I know we were young before and I made some huge mistakes and I'm still really sorry about it and I…" he began to ramble on

Ashley silenced him by leaning in and kissing him. After a few moments she pulled away and smiled:

"I would like to give us another go. However, we need to set rules out so that we don't fall into the same place as we did before."

She was silent for a moment before she said again:

"Let's get ready for tonight."

Once again they both went on patrol, this time in Gotham. Once again they came face to face with one of her father's old enemies, The Riddler who was trying to rob a jewelry store.

"Who let you get out of your Arkham cell?" Ashley asked grabbing the electro-disks and activating them to try and show her opponent that she wasn't going to play games "The Joker?"

"I thought the Joker murdered you in cold blood?" The Riddler asked coyly "I guess we all have our moments"

Dick grabbed his Eskrima sticks and glanced at Ashley who nodded before they both attacked The Riddler. It was going on for a while until Dick got a bad hit to the head from the Riddler's cane which sent him flying across the street. Ashley was still going strong though, until he knocked her to the ground.

However, right before Ashley was going to get killed by him; someone swooped down and trapped him by using technology that Dick had never seen before. With the Riddler knocked out, the man who captured him smiled.

"That's what you get for your crimes you scumbag." The man said which made Ashley glance at Dick in shock

"Luke?" she asked in surprise

"Hey Ash" he responded with a smile "Long time, no see."

The man in the suit that Dick never saw went by the name of Bat-Wing, or he was better known to Dick as Luke Fox aka Ashley's ex-boyfriend.


	12. Chapter 12

Luke was currently sitting on the couch in the living room back at the house, in regular clothes that he was wearing under the Bat-Wing suit, and eating leftover Chicken Pot-Pie that Alfred made that evening for dinner. Dick was standing in the kitchen looking suspicious, at the person who was sitting on the couch. This didn't go unnoticed by Ashley who was sitting in an armed chair in the living room facing Luke with a mug filled of tea in hand. Ashley glanced at Dick who was not looking at her but practically looking like he wanted to strangle Luke. Thankfully Luke didn't see Dick's facial expression towards him. Dick eventually made eye contact with Ashley before she turned to Luke and began the interrogation.

"What are you doing here Luke? I thought you moved to Metropolis?" Ashley asked as she crossed her right leg over her left.

"I did, however, my dad called me a few days ago and suggested that I'd come back home to Gotham. He said he feels unsafe as Batman is gone and the only person who's trying to do something in Gotham is that dude who fights like a ballerina with the batons." Luke explained

Ashley noticed Dick's facial expression go from suspicious to downright angry at Luke's comment which in response gave the middle finger at Luke. This made Ashley glare at him. Dick's expression immediately softened when Ashley looked him in the eye.

'I'm sorry' he mouthed and Ashley's eyes softened

"You mean Dick?" she answered crossing her arms

"Yeah…so anyways, I heard you need help finding your Dad as he is apparently 'dead' which I know he's not." Luke explained "So I came to help."

Ashley sighed before standing up and grabbing Luke's plate to place it in the sink.

"We appreciate the help but…" Dick began

"We'd love it for you to help me find my father." Ashley concluded making Dick look at her in shock

"That's cool." Luke replied "Can I stay here; you probably have a full house but…"

"No" Dick replied

"Yes" Ashley responded

Both responded at the same time making the other look at each other.

"Yes" Ashley responded raising her eyebrow at Dick "There's an empty room down the hall, past the office."

"Thank you…I'll see you both in the morning." Luke said with a small smile before walking down the hall towards his room

Once the door was shut Ashley turned to Dick.

"Really?" she asked

"I don't like that guy." Dick began

"I know" she replied "But the more help we can get the better we will be."

"I just…really hate that guy." Dick sighed

"Why? Are you jealous?" Ashley said with a smirk

"No…I-mean I'm not…I…I" Dick began to stutter which made Ashley giggle in response

"Hey, relax…you know we haven't spoken in like 2 years right?" She said with a smile "Plus he has a girlfriend."

"Right." Dick replied with a sigh

"Plus you and I still have to work on our set of boundaries and guidelines for each other." She continued

"Right" he said in agreement

"So technically we aren't together as of yet." Ashley smirked making Dick's expression change from relaxed to confused

"Wait, what?" Dick asked making Ashley laugh

"I'm sorry" Dick began making Ashley laugh even harder "I thought we were together"

"What made you think that?" she questioned

"Oh I don't know the fact that earlier today you said, 'Dick I'd like to give us another go'." Dick replied in her voice making her laugh again

"We could also be considered…what Wally used to call us…fuck buddies?" she said with a smile

"Fuck buddies?" Dick replied with a look that made Ashley laugh even harder than she did before "Fuck buddies? Where the hell did he come up with that?"

"I don't know, I'm going to bed."Ashley replied before walking out of the kitchen

"Ok" Dick responded

As she reached the entrance to the hallway she turned around to look at him. She smiled and said:

"Want to join me?"

Dick tiredly nodded and followed Ashley down the hall to her room. As he was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, he started to wonder about why Selina would shoot Bruce. He glanced over at Ashley whose head was resting where his shoulder met his chest, with her right arm draped across his stomach. She was also sound asleep. Carefully, he moved out of bed and stood up. The one thing he forgot about Ashley was that when she was not intoxicated with alcohol, she was actually a really light sleeper, so when Dick moved out of bed, she suddenly woke up.

"Where you going?" she asked groggily with sleep still heavy in her voice

Dick kissed her forehead before he covered her back up

"I'm just going to grab a drink. I'll be back." Dick reassured her before walking out of the room

Ashley mentally sighed but let him go. Dick originally was going to head to the kitchen, but changed his mind and went down to the Bat-Cave instead. After turning the lights on, he began to walk around glancing at all of the old memories that were present. While it wasn't the original Bat-Cave that he had come to know, it was the Bat-Cave that Ashley grew up with before Dick came into Bruce's life.

Dick started to walk down the area where all of Bruce's current and former Batman suits were. Amongst Bruce's suits, he saw some old memories that made him want to start to laugh. Those include his old Robin suit, Jason's Robin suit, and Tim's Robin suit. Then he stumbled upon the original Nightingale suit that Ashley designed when she was 14. Everything about it was different. Not only the color, but the overall form was different. The old suit was charcoal grey with a cowl that made her eyes the only thing visible. It was built to look more like an armor which made it harder for her to move, however, the current suit was made so that she could move with ease. The new one was also bulletproof where as this one wasn't. Even the weapons she used were different. Currently, she used those electro-disks that she could throw, but before, she used a simpler Bo Staff. She didn't used guns, she didn't blend in to the darkness very well, but she was an amazing partner.

'She never changed' Dick thought to himself

And in reality she hasn't. Sure she got older and wiser, but she was still the same Ashley he fell in love with all those years ago. Eventually he sat back down at the desk, and began to look over the footage again. When he began to look through the footage, he paused just as Selina came into frame and realized one big clue that they had missed. The only clue that Dick found that could lead to anything, was an Owl feather.

'Court of Owls?' he thought to himself

He then began to search through any file Bruce had on the Court of Owls. As he began reading through the files, he stumbled across two encrypted files in the computer. After trying multiple times to open them, he gave up and decided to wake up the next best person to do IT other than Ashley…Tim.

Dick quickly and quietly rushed up the stairs and knocked on the door to Tim's room. Eventually, Tim answered the door looking tired and angry, before Dick explained why he needed him. Tim and Dick then rushed back down the stairs, and Tim began to hack into the files.

"Why do I need to hack into these Dick? I thought Selina works alone?" Tim asked as he typed on the keyboard

"Whatever file Bruce has on the Court of Owls, we need to see it. It could give us a clue on where their hiding and why they possible took Bruce." Dick explained

After a few more minutes Tim hacked into the files, and Dick opened them and began to read them. Only there was one small problem, they were in Russian.

"Russian?" Dick questioned "Why the hell are they in Russian? The Court of Owls only works in Gotham…unless some of their members are Russian."

"That makes no sense." Tim explained "Selina is not Russian."

Tim hit the translate key on the keyboard and the files translated from Russian to English. Once the files were translated, Dick began to read through them and mid-sentence, he stopped.

"What the fuck?" he murmured

"What? What's wrong?" Tim asked

"Looks like the reason why these files are in Russian is because The Court of Owls originally had ties to facilities in both Stalingrad which is now Volograd, and Moscow in Russia." Dick explained

"What kind of facilities?" Tim asked

"Training and…breeding facilities. The subjects that were born there were genetically modified after birth and trained to become assassins." Dick began as he grabbed a note pad on the desk and began to write stuff down "Apparently two of the 'subjects' were selected by the Court of Owls as their 'future talons' and they both were transported to Gotham in 1997 shortly after their birth and genetic enhancement."

"Where in Gotham?" Tim asked leaning forward intriguingly

"Apparently there was a raid on a Court of Owl's facility and both 'subjects' were placed into the Orphanage in Gotham, they're related not by blood, but by the same genetic enhancement…sisters."

"What are their names?" Tim asked

"The first one's name is Yelena Anastasia Fydorova, the second's one's name is Valentina Natalia Vostok both were infants when they were transported to Gotham." Dick replied writing their names down on the notepad "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's almost 6:00 am right now, why?" Tim asked

"That means the Orphanage is open." Dick replied pulling out his phone and dialing the number for the Orphanage.

Dick put the phone on speaker and once the woman on the other line picked up.

"Hi, I was wondering if there were any adoption records for a two sisters from Russia in 1997?" Dick asked

'_Records for sisters transported here in 1997? I think we have them that far back…I can look. Give me a few minutes please.' _ The woman on the other line explained

A few moments later the woman's voice said:

'_Yes, there is a record, one of the sisters died however, the trip was too hard for that infant. The other survived and was relatively healthy when she arrived.'_

"Which one was that?" Dick asked looking at Tim who had the same expression

'_That was Yelena Anastasia Fydorova. Valentina unfortunately died.' The woman explained_

"Was the infant that survived adopted by anyone?" Dick asked

'_Yes, but I believe we do not have those records due to a fire that occurred in 1999. However, we do have an appearance chart for her. The only thing that remains on her chart is that she had brown hair with green eyes. Other than that, no. I'm sorry Mr. uh…what is your name again?'_

Dick hung up before he could answer and looked at Tim. Tim looked at Dick and was shocked:

"What Tim?" Dick asked

"She just said that Yelena was born in 1997, and has brown hair with green eyes." Tim said with a shaky voice "Who else do we know that has brown hair, green eyes and was born in 1997?"

"That's impossible Tim; do you know how crazy that sounds?" Dick asked

"We don't know until we find the birth certificate." Tim said before he ran upstairs to the library where Bruce kept his most important documents. Once Tim found the safe, he used the code and opened it. Inside he found birth certificates for himself, Dick, Jason, Damian, and Ashley.

"See, Yelena is not Ashley." Dick replied

"Hang on, we didn't check, the other safe." Tim replied

"What other safe?" Dick asked

"The safe under the rug." Tim said as he lifted up the corner of the rug to reveal the metal door.

Tim entered the code to reveal another set of documents. This time, with Russian lettering on the front of it. Tim gave Dick a look before he placed the file on the desk. Dick grabbed Ashley's birth certificate and the Russian folder and began to look it over and compare the documents.

"Holy fuck" he murmered

"What? What's wrong?" Tim asked

"Ashley's real name isn't Ashley. It's Yelena." Dick said in shock

"Which means that Bruce isn't her father?" Tim replied

"This also means that the anonymous person who adopted her was Bruce." Dick said in shock

"This also means that if the Court of Owls finds out that she's alive, they'll kill her." Tim replied

"Which means that you and I" Dick said gesturing to Tim and himself "Keep this to ourselves, if anyone finds out that Ashley was genetically modified and going to be trained as an assassin, we'll all be dead."

After a few moments Dick glanced at Tim and Tim said:

"What are we going to do? If we find Bruce, the Court could figure out that Ashley is Yelena, and if we don't find Bruce Yel- Ashley will look for him, herself. We need to tell Ashley about Selina shooting Bruce." Tim explained

"Agreed" Dick replied "But this other secret, about Ashley actually being a genetically enhanced Russian spy, is between us, understood?"

Tim nodded in agreement

"Don't worry; I've got this all under control." Dick responded and Tim knew in the back of his mind that Dick was lying.


	13. Chapter 13

**Updated Faceclaims:**

**Ashley Wayne: Alicia Vikander**

**Dick Grayson: Scott Eastwood **

**Jason Todd: Miles Teller**

**Tim Drake: Logan Lerman **

**Damian Wayne: David Mazouz**

**Luke Fox: Micheal B. Jordan **

**Tiffany Williamson (Ashley's Assistant): Ashley Greene**

**Everyone else's actors are the DCEU actors for the characters that are used.**

* * *

**One Week Later**

Waking up that morning, Dick found himself alone in his room in his bed.. In the past week, he and Ashley have been sleeping together. Surprisingly this has gone unnoticed by everyone in the house since at night, after everyone falls asleep, either Dick sneaks into Ashley's room or Ashley sneaks into Dick's room. Though this morning was different. She did not come into his room.

Getting out of bed, he walked to his bedroom door, and proceeded down the hall where he heard yelling from what sounded like Damian and Tim. Upon entering the living room, he saw Tim and Damian verbally fighting with each other, an amused Jason watching on the sidelines, Kate trying to break up the fight from escalating into a physical one, Alfread already pouring a cup of coffee for him, and Luke reading a Forbes Magazine with Ashley on the cover. '_America's Youngest Billionaire: Ashley Wayne.''_ the cover read.

Dick walked over to Alfred and took the cup:

"Where is she?" he whispered

"Working in the office or downstairs, she's been up since around 3:30 this morning sir" Alfred explained

Dick took a large gulp of the coffee and listened in on Tim and Damian's fight:

"-Tt, As father's blood son, there's no doubt I have more skills than you will ever have Drake! That's why he loved me more than you!" Damian spat

"At least I don't have to kidnap people against their will to have some friends" Tim began before he came with a comeback that would shake the peanut gallery "You stupid Test Tube baby!"

"Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Jason said in shock

"Jesus Tim!" Kate said in shock

"Whoa, that was epic." Luke said looking up from the magazine

"Timbers, I did not think you had it in you to roast people! Especially the demon spawn!" Jason began "Damn, I feel so proud."

"Really Tim? You didn't need to go that far" Kate sighed crossing her arms

"Who cares Red? My boy Timmy's a savage!" Jason said in a happy tone

Dick sighed and shook his head before replying to Alfred:

"I'll go find her."

Dick first went into the office and found that she wasn't there. He then decided to go down to the Batcave and upon going down the steps, he heard sounds of frustration and anger. He crept down the stairs quietly to find Ashley throwing knives at a target and everytime she threw a knife, it was a bullseye every single time. It was then he noticed that music was playing, Claire De Lune was playing at a low volume, which was odd because he knew when she was in a mood she would turn her music on so loud, the walls around her would shake and it would not be classical. After she ran out of knives to throw, she walked toward the target and began to take them out of their place.

"If I wanted an audience I would've called." she sighed acknowledging Dick's presence

"I didn't come to watch." Dick said sitting down in the chair at Bruce's desk "I came to see if you were alright?"

"I'm peachy" she said before throwing another knife at the target

"You sure?" he said as she threw another knife with a grunt

"Yep" she spat before she grabbed another knife

"Alright, what's wrong?" Dick sighed "I mean I know your bitchy these days but why are you extra bitchy?"

"I'm not bitchy" Ashley snapped sending him a glare that made him regret what he said

"I hate to break it to you, but right now, you should speak for yourself." He gestured to her making her hard as nails facial expression soften

She sighed and paused the music on her phone "I guess I'm just...stressed"

"I know, we all are, you especially because you basically are trying to keep everybody from killing each other your like the-" he began

"If you call me 'the mom' I'm going to throw one of these knives at your throat!" she hissed

Dick put his hands up in defense "I didn't mean it like that and I was going to say the boss of everybody...and you're already angry and I don't want you to get even more angry."

She sighed "Maybe I am a little stressed."

"No? Really?" Dick said with sarcasm dripping in his voice

Ashley glared at him as she turned to face him. From where he was sitting, he could see the beads of sweat drip down her face. Her light brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail that looked slightly drenched with sweat. She slowly turned to face the target again, and sighed as she threw the last knife once again hitting the exact center of the target.

She turned around to face Dick and reply to his sarcastic comment but the sound of glass shattering that came from upstairs rattled through her ears. She didn't even hesitate before running up the stairs as fast as she could and Dick followed right behind her. When both came into the living room, they noticed a few plates broken, Alfred looking disappointed, Luke looking confused, Jason and Kate looking shocked and Tim looking frustrated.

"What the hell just happened?" Ashley cautiously asked as she knelt down to help Alfred pick up the broken glass

"It's all Damian's fucking fault!" Tim said as he stormed down the hall and slammed the door to his room

Ashley slowly stood up after Alfred shooed her away. She glanced at Dick before saying:

"I'm going to find my brother, you should go find yours."

She grabbed her Canada Goose black hooded parka, her tan plaid Burberry scarf, and her brother's quilted Givenchy coat before walking outside. The reason why she grabbed the jackets, it was snowing outside. She didn't have to go far to find her brother. In fact he wasn't very far away from the house at all. He was sitting on the small dock that went out to the lake. When she was little, she always use to find her father and mother sitting on the same dock talking. Usually it was about Batman issues, and or issues with Wayne Enterprises, but for some reason it always calmed the both of them. Ashley walked up to him and said:

"Heard there was a party here, sick invite."

"-Tt, what do you want?" Damian scoffed

Ashley sat down next to him "Well, I know you are in a mood, but the least you could do is put on a coat. You and I both know that both Dad and Alfred would not want you to catch a cold."

She handed him the jacket and he graciously took it without an argument. He put it on and zipped it before he said:

"It's all Drake's fault, he's such an imbecile. He tried to carry the plates to the table and I accidentally bumped into him, but as always he blamed it on me."

Ashley sighed "Really? Because I think it's more than Tim that's pissing you off. Want to tell me what's really going on?"

Damian turned to look his sister in the eye, he knew the look she was giving him, he also knew that she wasn't going to let him go without telling her.

"It's just been hard." Damian began "You all don't understand how hard it is. I feel betrayed and abandoned, I felt it once with my mother and grandfather, but I never thought father would betray us, I never thought he would betray me."

Ashley signed and put her left hand on her brother's right shoulder.

"You all have it easy. Grayson left Father because of the fight they had and now he has the Titans, Todd has that other imbecile Harper, Drake has whatever idiots work with him, Kane has her father, Fox has his father, and you" he said looking back out to the lake "You have your stupid assistant Williamson. I have no one."

"Damian, that is not true. You have me, you have Dick, Alfred, Jason, and Tim. We're your family. We will always be your family, no matter where we are in the world, we will always be there for you. I'm sorry we haven't been around, but I intend on changing that."

"How? All we are doing is looking for our father?" he asked

"Well, for starters, I think it's time Robin makes a comeback since he hasn't been around in almost a year" Ashley began and Damian sort of smiled back "And I also think that we should include you again on patrol, we could use your expertise."

"Perhaps with my skill set we will find father sooner." Damian said proudly making Ashley roll her eyes

"Don't get cocky" she scoffed playfully and he rolled his eyes in response which made her laugh a little.

While she could side with Tim and Jason on the fact that sometimes Damian was an asshole to...well...everyone, he still was her little brother and no matter how jerky and cold he could be, she still looked out for him.

"Alright, let's get inside, I hate the cold." Ashley said standing up

"Please, this is nothing. My grandfather made me experience far worse when I was under his guidance." Damian said also standing up

"Leave it to Ra's al Ghul to traumatize a child" Ashley murmured

"I heard that" Damian scoffed and Ashley smirked in response

"Hey, can I get a hug?" Ashley said and Damian rolled his eyes before giving his sister a hug

"Don't tell Drake or Todd" he said into her shoulder

"I won't" she said with a smile "C'mon I need to go inside and get some work for the company done and you have to go and get ready for patrol tonight...Robin"

"I have one more question though" Damian said as Ashley started to walk off the dock

She turned around "Yeah?"

"Make sure Grayson treats you right, if he cheats on you again, I'll be sure to slit his throat while he's sleeping." Damian said crossing his arms

Ashley's eyes widened "How long have you known? Does anyone else know?"

"No, Todd and Drake are too stupid, Kane is worried about her relationship with Montoya and Fox is too worried about trying to win you back from Grayson. Truth is, Grayson is better than Fox, I always liked Grayson better." Damian said with a smirk

"Huh, good to know, now come on, I've got work to do" Ashley said gesturing to come inside and her brother followed her obediently.

Sure enough later that night, everyone was getting ready for patrol, except for Ashley and Alfred.

"So I don't get why you're not coming with us" Jason said as he began to load his two guns

"I have work that I need to do, and besides you guys have Damian, I think you'll be fine." Ashley said as she glanced at Damian who was sharpening his katana.

"Yeah sure like Demon's presence will beat yours" Tim scoffed making Damian give him a glare

Ashley walked to the area of the cave where the Batmobile was parked where Dick was making sure everything works.

"Do me a favor, try not to crash this one." she said leaning up against it crossing her arms

"Ha ha very funny." Dick began "It's gonna be weird not having you in the front seat with me. Usually it's you in the front and Damian in the back."

"Well, look on the brightside, you get extra help tonight." she smiled

"Yeah, Luke" Dick said with an eye roll

"Don't start this now." Ashley began as she grabbed his left hand and held it "Promise me you won't kill yourself, I honestly don't need anymore injured or mentally ill people in my life."

"Trust me, I got this." Dick said making Ashley look more worried

"Relax Ash, we got this. You can take a nap if needed" Tim said patting Ashley on the shoulder which made Ashley worry even more

"Don't worry, I'll make sure their in line" Kate said which made Ashley feel a little better

A few moments later the cave became very silent as they all left to go on patrol together leaving Ashley alone. Since Alfred did have the night off, she decided to sit in the cave and do some of her work for her father's company. Since becoming CEO, she's been dealing a lot with other Fortune 500 companies around the world. Many of those companies however, think she is still too young to be running them. Ashley of course ignored the comments from the other companies as she stated many times to them that her father was running Wayne Enterprises successfully around her age.

Along with the issues of running her father's company, she also had to deal with the annual chaos known as the Wayne Family. Every night when she came home from work, there was some sort of fight. While she was glad that Jason and Dick no longer fought, their fights that happened when they were younger, were nothing compared to the one's Tim and Damian had. Usually dinner ended with someone yelling 'Fuck you' and the annual storm off happened. Kate usually ate dinner with her father, and Luke usually ate dinner with his father so really it was just Ashley, Alfred, her brother, Tim, Jason and Dick at dinner.

Eventually, exhaustion took over and she fell asleep at the desk. What woke Ashley up was not a hand on her shoulder, but the sound of the Batmobile turning off.

Ashley jumped up and turned around to see Damian, and Jason rushing to the backseat of the car. Kate got out from the driver's seat...not Dick.

"What's wrong?" Ashley asked

Tim got out of the backseat of the car and yelled "Dick!"

Ashley's eyes widened as she quickly cleared off one portion of the desk that did not have the computer screens "Bring him here!"

She saw Luke, Tim, and Jason grab Dick's lifeless body and place it on the empty desk.

"What the hell happened?" Ashley asked as she noticed the red pool of blood coming out of Dick's abdomen.

"Joker's back...he's using gun's now...a lot more than he use to. One of the bullet's hit Dick." Luke explained

"Did you remove it?" Ashley asked as she grabbed the med supplies that Alfred always used to help patch up her father and brother when they were injured.

"No" Tim explained "We didn't have time."

"We'll have to do it ourselves. Damian go get me a needle of morphine, Jay, I need you and Luke to hold him down, Kate you are going to help Tim with prepping the syringes...this is going to be eventful." Ashley instructed

Once Damian came back with the syringe, Ashley glanced at everyone and they all gave her a nod before she injected the syringe into Dick's side making his eyes open abruptly and him scream out in pain. Luke and Jason did their job by holding him down and Kate and Tim were right by Ashley's side as she successfully moved the bullet from his side.

After she had the bullet successfully removed, the group helped Ashley move Dick's body to his room to allow him to rest in a more comfortable space.

"I'll stay the night in here...to make sure he's okay." Tiim volunteered but Ashley stopped him

"Relax Timmy, I got this. Besides, you don't know how to give syringes, where as I do. Get some sleep, all of you. I'll see you in the morning." Ashley explained and before Tim could object, Kate ushered the others out of the room

"We're going back to the site where Dick got shot, we want to make sure we got everything." Jason explained as Ashley sat down in a chair beside the bed. Ashley sighed as the door closed behind them.

Thankfully, she brought her phone with her so she could catch up on emails, however once the emails were done, she had nothing to do. She glanced over Dick's sleeping body. While he was peaceful, she did begin to wonder...how were they all going to find her father. What if he was truly dead? Who would become Batman? Who would take over Wayne Enterprises fully? Who would take care of Damian? What would the Board of Directors say? What would the investors say? All of these things ran through Ashley's mind, as she looked at Dick. She slowly stood up and was about to walk to her room to get some sleep. But before she went, she gave Dick a gentle kiss on the lips. Right before she reached the door, she heard a groggy weak voice reply:

"Don't you dare leave."

She sighed "You want me to stay?"

"I always want you to stay." the voice replied

She sighed again before she took off her clothes that she had on earlier til she was in her sports bra and panties. She dug through one of the drawers till she found an old grey Gotham University sweatshirt from when Dick was in college and put that on. She then carefully crawled into bed and laid on her left side whereas Dick was on his back. He carefully put his right arm around her and pulled her close.

"Don't leave." he quietly pleaded

"I'm not going to leave, I'm just going to lay here, and cause all kinds of trouble" she retorted.

He huffed in amusement "Me too" before they both let exhaustion take over.

**Downtown Gotham**

Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin both walked down the alleyway carefully. They all knew what they were about to see and who they were about to meet.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tim asked nervously

"This is the only way, the only shot at finding Bruce is by speaking to the one who shot him herself. And lucky for us, she and I have something in common." Jason explained

"Agreed" a voice came from the other end of the alley.

Damian's eyes widened along with Jason's and Tim's. The figure in black confidently walked toward them so that they could see her fully.

"Hello boys, did you miss me?" the woman said with a smirk

"Selina?" Tim asked

"Hello Timothy, Jason, and Damian. I assume you are my surrogate step-son since your sister is my daughter by blood." she said wickedly making Damian want to run and kill her

Jason held Damian back "Easy Robin. Look Selina, we just want to talk, we know you shot Batman, now we want to know why you did it."

"We also want to know how you are not dead." Tim explained

Selina smiled wickedly "I see. Well, the only way you'll know those answers is if I get something in return."

"What could you possibly want?" Damian said angrily

"Bring me my daughter, and all will be revealed." Selina said boldly making all three boys glance at each other

Before Jason could reply, she disappeared back into the alley almost as if she was never there.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **

**Going to switch to Ashley's POV for a while to show you all what she truly thinks of the situations going on around her. Also changed her face claim to Alicia Vikander as I feel she would make a better Ashley Wayne.**

Waking up that morning was...interesting to say the least I guess. I found myself wrapped around Dick and his arm was wrapped around me. To be honest, I kind of always liked waking up next to Dick. Yes, the man was an asshole, a jackass, a total no good cheating bastard as my best friend Donna Troy called him, but there was something about him that always made me attracted to him. Maybe it was the fact he was a womanizer and was known for it, maybe it was his determination, or maybe it was the fact that I was a mentally fucked up individual and he was one as well. Honestly I think it's the last one, however, ever since I could remember I've always had a thing for bad boys. Tiffany and Donna have always called me out on it but there's something about them that keeps me gravitating towards them every single time. That I can blame on my defiance that I've always had against my father.

In fact I've always been defiant against him. When I was sixteen I got my first tattoo. While I got my two others later, when my dad found out I got a tattoo on my foot he flipped out. I thought it was pretty hilarious actually. The tattoo on my foot is a very small star that's on my ankle, it's so small that he probably can't even see it without his fucking glasses on. The tattoo on my left ribs is a word that says '_Ohana'._ The reason why I got that tattoo was because of the pain I felt after Jason's death. And the final tattoo is the set of the Olympic rings on my lower back AKA 'the Tramp Stamp spot'. The reason I got those...I was in the olympic trials for track. Sadly, I did not qualify for the Olympics. Anyways, my defiance got even worse when Dick and I broke up and he cut all ties with my father. I became known around Gotham and probably the entire country as 'The Wayne Wild Child', or 'Gotham's Lindsay Lohan', or my personal favorite 'The Party Princess.' Of course, I was involved in a lot of alcohol and my father threatened to send me to rehab if I didn't clean up my act. That's when I realised, it was time to grow up, so I sobered up, and decided that the hero life wasn't going to cut it for me. That was when I trashed being Nightingale, and decided to just be Ashley Wayne...until Dick came back. Anyways, back to what I was originally saying.

Pulling away from Dick's grasp, I glanced at the alarm clock next to the bed: '6:00' am. I had to be in Gotham at Wayne Enterprises by 7:00. Walking out of the room, I looked up and down the hallway and walked into my own room which was right next to Dick's. After showering, I threw on a black Nike sport's bra, with matching black Nike Pants, a black zip up jacket, and my black Nike running sneakers. I put my hair up into a high ponytail, grabbed my tan Burberry Scarf, and my black Burberry quilted vest along with my phone, car keys, aviator sunglasses and purse and walked out the door to my room. I was only to be met by Alfred on the other side which to be honest, scared the shit out of me.

"Jesus!" I yelped

"Miss Wayne, I am terribly sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Alfred explained and I smiled in response

I put my hand on his shoulder "Don't worry about it Alfred, you've scared me worse many other times before."

As we both started to walk down the hall towards the kitchen, I began to remember all the good times I had with Alfred when I was younger. When he wasn't helping and sarcastically roasting my father, he was either helping me with my homework, being my number 1 fan at track meets, my biggest supporter when I was in the Gotham Ballet Company, and being my support system if I got injured from a night on patrol. I also remember the many, many, many, tea parties that Alfred and I had after my mother died. My stuffed animals never had better food than the food Alfred made.

"Where are you off too?" Alfred asked

"Uh, the company. Lucius finished my new suit. I wanted to see how it looked." I explained

"Ah, I see." he began "Does Master Grayson know? Or your brother?"

"No" I sighed "I've been working on this for a little over a year, I think it's time to step it up."

"I remember when you got your first suit." he said with a small smile as I opened the door to the garage "Oh how loved the days when it was Batgirl, Robin, and Batman."

I laughed a little "You know that was almost 14 years ago right?"

To answer your question, yes, I was the original Batgirl. Before Barbara, I was Batgirl. I started when I was 12 as Batgirl and then when I turned 14, I wanted to venture out of Batgirl and into something different which was when I created Nightingale.

"Oh I do, why did you decide on the name Nightingale again?" he questioned

I rolled my eyes a little in a humorous way and I knew the answer I was about to tell him was going to be known as another 'Ashley Wayne original' as he would call it "I wanted to be iconic."

At that point Alfred put a palm to his forehead and sighed making me laugh. I put my sunglasses on and replied "Later Alfred"

I walked downstairs to the garage and turned the lights on to my father's vast collection of cars. You named it, Bruce Wayne owned it. The cars ranged from a Lamborghini Huracan to a very rare black Shelby Cobra. My personal favorite was the Aston Martin DB11. The reason? Well, when I was about 19 years old, I stole the car, and I crashed it into a McDonalds. Like I said, I was quite the Wild Child. I settled on my black Porsche 911, which was a gift from my father on my 18th birthday, and drove out of the garage and onto the dirt road that led from the current house that we all live in, to the main road which led into Gotham.

Upon driving off of the property, I passed the cemetery where my grandparents, and my mother were buried on the left hand side, and on the right hand side, I passed Wayne Manor. It didn't look rundown, it just looked...empty. Moving my brother out of the home was the best thing that could've happened as I knew my brother would fall into a state of depression like my father if he stayed there. Damian and my father are twins in some retrospects, not only in appearance but in personality.

About 20 minutes later, I got to the Wayne Enterprises building in Downtown Gotham. It was Monday so I knew that most of the WE staff wouldn't be there since Monday and Sunday are considered the weekend in my father's company. I pulled around to the main entrance, grabbed my things, handed my car off to the valet and proceeded to Lucius office.

Once I got to Lucius's office, I knocked on the door and he waved me in.

"There you are, I was starting to think you were going to bail on me." Lucius said with a serious tone

"Really?" I said raising my eyebrows

Lucius smiled "No! I'm just messing with you Lily"

I smiled at the use of Lucius calling me Lily. He's called me that for as long as I can remember. I have many nicknames that I've been called. My Dad always called me Ashley but sometimes he called me Ally and Ally-Cat because he always said I reminded him of my mother when it came to my cleverness and stealth abilities but when I was younger he used to call me little miss, buttercup, and pumpkin. Dick and everyone else always called me Ash except for Wally who has called me every nickname possible that he could think of.

Lucius walked over to his bookcase and punched in a code on one of the picture frames of him and Luke and accessed the secret elevator that was behind the bookcase.

"Shall we my dear?" he asked and I smiled

Once the elevator was on the designated floor the doors opened to a large underground warehouse that housed Lucius's new inventions, Wayne Enterprises R&D, along with the people that created the suits for every member of my family.

"You've been busy" I said as we walked pass the new inventions and the teams of people working on them

"Well, since your father isn't around to make crazy requests, I can only imagine what he would ask for if he was around so I decided to make a few of my own." Lucius explained as we reached another door

This time Lucius needed a retina scan to get in. Once the scan was complete the door opened and let both of us in. I sighed, finally, I was in the suit department. A young girl started walking toward me with a tablet:

"Hey Tam" I said

"Hi Lily, good to see you" Tam replied with a smile as she gave me a hug

"You as well, helping your Dad with my new suit I see." I smiled back

"Well, no but I came with him today to see your new suit." she said with excitement "My Dad said he was showing it to you so I wanted to see it."

"Shall we?" Lucius began

"Of course" I replied

"So it is a Nomex triple-weave Kevlar shell, that is both electrically insulated and light sensitive. Similar to your old one, but again we wanted it to have fewer body inlays than your old one. We wanted the third model to be newer, fresher, and even more easier for you to move in." Lucius explained

"But Dad" Tam began "Are you forgetting about the other thing as well?"

"I was getting to that Tamara." Lucius said with a smile as we continued to walk to the back of the room where the suit was "Along with the lighter leather material, we used Zylon fibers which are fire and acid resistant. We didn't want you to be wearing armor like your Batgirl and early Nightingale days, but we wanted you to have some kind of protection when you're fighting so you don't hurt yourself that much unlike your current suit which is sadly not. We don't need you getting stabbed or catching on fire. As far as weapons go, those were a little more difficult."

"How so?" I asked

"Well the electro disks are...how do I say this nicely?" Lucius began

"Boring, old, outdated, makes me want to yawn." Tamara concluded

"Tamara!" Lucius scolded

"What? They make her look like the girl from Tron! She's not the girl from Tron!" Tamara said making me laugh

"You are 100 percent right!" I replied with a laugh

"Instead of the electronic disks I dug some things out of storage that you may want." Lucius said as Tamara walked over to a table with a long grey box on it. She waved me and her father over and opened it. Inside it was two Escrima sticks and a note that was on them. The note read:

'_To the girl who keeps me in check, always leads me on the right path, and doesn't put up with any of my bullshit. Happy 21st Birthday Ash, I love you Baby. XOXO - Dick'_

I sighed nonchalantly when I read the last part of the note.

"Mister Grayson wanted these made for your twenty-first birthday. He said that if there was anyone he would 'twin' with, it would be you. They are light-weight and electric when you turn them on from the back of the suit." Lucius began

"Like the one's Dick has?" I asked

"Similar yes, but yours however when placed together form a bo staff similar to the one from the original suit we created." Lucius explained before he gestured me to the case

When we got to the case Lucius used his thumb print and the case lit up. The case door opened and it revealed the suit.

"Voila" Tamara said with a smile

My face went from emotionless to probably one of the biggest smiles I ever had. About a year ago when my Dad went missing, I asked Lucius to make me a suit that I may have never used but needed as a back up, of course I gave Lucius the input on the colors and style I wanted but never what it would have as far as protection.

The suit itself was flawless. It was all black except for the little bit of maroon that was on the suit. It was tight, like really tight, like tighter than my old one which made it more sexy, it had discreet pockets on the top and sides, and the boots were wedges which I absolutely loved cause I always want extra height to keep up with the boys. I loved it, it screamed me.

I sighed in joy before saying:

"Lucius, you have once again out done yourself."

"Oh I know my dear" Lucius said putting a hand on my shoulder

I walked up to the case and smiled before turning around:

"I'll take it...Gotham's criminals better look out, cause their least favorite bird is back and better than ever"

**A/N:**

**To imagine Ashley's new suit, Google Black Widow's Avengers: Infinity war suit but just imagine that the vest is maroon instead of dark blue, grey, or green and imagine it all being the same leather material that the actual suit is.**

**Lucius's faceclaim: Denzel Washington**

**Tamara Fox's faceclaim: Skai Jackson **


	15. Chapter 15

_Ashley groaned hard as she hit the mat. She looked angered and disgusted before rolling over onto her stomach. _

"_Terrible and sloppy. Now, what did you do wrong?" Bruce asked as he stood above her_

"_Choose to spend the weekend training with you instead of going to the mall with my friends, that's what I did wrong." Ashley murmured _

_Bruce then pushed the tip of his staff into her right shoulder blade making her groan in pain. _

"_I can still have you grounded you know, and you won't be going to Homecoming." Bruce said with a stern voice making her groan in disgust before pushing herself up off the floor. _

_Ashley stood up and looked her father in the eyes. "Normal fourteen year old girls are going to the movies, the mall, going on dates with their boyfriends…"_

"_You're not a normal fourteen year old Ally" Bruce said crossing his arms_

"_No, I'm the type of fourteen year old that instead of living her life is out till 4 in the morning every night with her father and his stupid associate playing dress up." Ashley said making Bruce raise and eyebrow at her _

"_Enough" Bruce said even more sternly than before "What did you do wrong?"_

_Ashley sighed "I let my guard down" _

"_Exactly. You know in a fight you can't let your guard get down. Why did you let it happen?" he asked _

"_I guess I haven't been all there lately." Ashley replied as she took her hair out of her ponytail _

"_Well get there! You know better." Bruce scolded and Ashley rolled her eyes_

"_Whatever." Ashley said ignoring Bruce and turned on her heel as she began to walk towards the stairs that led out of the cave_

"_Excuse me? If I recall I remember you begging me to have you in this life. Ashley I told you the same thing I told Dick, you don't have to do this." Bruce explained _

"_At least Dick got to be normal before he left." Ashley murmured _

_Bruce sighed "Ashley, don't fight me on this."_

"_You're always tougher on me than everyone else." Ashley explained "Why?"_

"_If I told you, you wouldn't understand." Bruce explained making Ashley roll her eyes in annoyance "Now you can stand there and sulk, or you can do the exercise again."_

_Bruce then tossed her a wooden staff that was identical to the wooden one he was holding, both got into their fighting stances, and began to fight each other once again. _

_Bruce attacked Ashley hard and fast which made it difficult for her to keep up but Ashley continued to fight back harder than she did the previous time. And sure enough, in about five swift moves, Ashley had her father cornered with both the staff he was holding and the staff she was holding aimed at his neck. _

_Bruce smiled "Better" _

Opening my eyes, I realized that the dream was fading away. The times when I would train with my father were gone and replaced with the harsh reality of the real world. As I slowly looked around my bedroom later that night, I realized that I was facing the bathroom laying on my right side. After meeting with Lucius and Tamara for my new suit (which my brother, Dick, Jason, and Tim have no clue about), I decided to come home and do some work. I was then interrupted by Dick and his stupidity when Alfred informed me that he tried to walk down the stairs. I swear that guy gets stupider by the day. I walked into the bathroom and pulled my hair up and put my sneakers on. I then walked out of my bedroom. As I quietly closed the door behind me and began to walk down the hall towards the kitchen. All was going well, until heard voices coming from the cave. Quietly, I began to descend the steps and what I saw and heard was quite interesting. I saw Jason, Tim, Damian, and Dick all speaking about my father's disappearance...without me first of all, and second, they were mentioning my mother.

"Are you sure that's all Selina wants?" Dick asked crossing his arms

"All she told us was, if you bring me my daughter, I'll tell you everything." Jason said putting his hands on the desk

"But what if she's working with the Court? What if this is their big plan to get Ashley to turn into that crazy assassin that she was basically created to do?" Tim asked leaning back in the chair in front of the computers

Dick sighed "I just don't want to lose her. Selina could be tricking us."

"Dude, you're already losing her. We're lying to her that we know nothing about Bruce being taken or by whom. Little does she know that not only her mother who was supposed to be dead shot her father and possibly took him, but Ashley's real name isn't Ashley, and Bruce may not be her biological father even!" Tim yelled and that's when I made my presence known

Russian? Court? My mother shooting my father? My mother's alive? A million different thoughts were going through my mind. I did know one thing, I was lied to. Not just by my father, but my brother, Jason, Tim, and Dick.

I coughed to make my presence known among the boys making all four sets of eyes look at me in shock. Tim's jaw dropped, Damian looked upset, Jason looked very upset as well, and Dick...looked regretful.

"Ash...I can explain" Dick began taking a step towards me

I put my right hand up "Don't."

I could feel the tears beginning to creep in my eyes as I looked over them. My own family, lying to me in plain sight. My anger was building and I couldn't stand to look at any of them any longer. I turned around and walked up the stairs.

Walking into the kitchen I saw Alfred glance at me like he knew something was wrong:

"Miss Wayne?" Alfred questioned

"I'm going out Alfred, don't have anyone look for me, and I'm not bringing my phone." I said in a cold voice as I put on a coat and scarf.

I quickly grabbed my keys and went outside to my car. I heard the door open and close behind me.

"Ashley! Wait!" I heard Dick yell after me "Ashley please let me explain."

I then felt his hand lightly grab my left wrist, and in response I turned around and yanked it away from him.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped

"Ashley, let me…" he began but I didn't want to hear it

"No! You don't get to speak! You lied to me! Even after you promised you wouldn't lie to me anymore!" I said as my voice cracked

"I only did it to protect you!" Dick said yelling back now "You don't understand...the-"

"No!" I yelled back "You don't understand! I've been sitting around waiting for you to help me find my father, and the one piece of evidence you have you forget to inform me on. And it's a pretty fucking big piece of information, my mother whose been dead my entire life is somehow magically alive! And not only is she alive, no, she possibly killed my father! Here we are once again, you and I always fighting over the other keeping secrets."

I stopped to take a breath to try and calm myself down before I continued:

"You are exactly how my father wanted you to be." I said in the calmest voice I could

"And what is that?" he snapped

I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms "Your the biggest fucking asshole I've ever met. You're cold, calculating, have and show no emotion, and you only care about yourself. Sure you put on that Nightwing suit and you act like you care…" I took two steps closer to him "but you're the same Dick Grayson that I left 6 years ago. Bruce didn't want us to show emotion so we were taught to hide it, that was the one lesson I failed at that you didn't and now I know why!"

Dick's blue eyes looked into mine, he looked like he regretted keeping these things from me, but I still wasn't done with what I was saying.

"You're a sociopath, just like my father." I said with anger in my voice "You always said you wanted to be as good as Batman, so Congratulations Richard! You've done it! You're just as good as Batman! Maybe even better!"

I walked over to my car and pulled off the property leaving the house, my family, and Dick all behind me. Driving into Gotham that night, I had no mindset on where I wanted to go, or who I wanted to see. In the long run, I decided to go back to my apartment and just stay there until I cooled off, then I'd be on a jet to Manhattan by the weekend. As I walked down the hall to go into my apartment, I noticed it was awfully quiet, especially during this time of year. Christmas was only a few weeks away so at night in my apartment I could hear my neighbors talking and worrying about which Rolex they'd be buying this year. But tonight it was oddly quiet.

Upon walking up to my door, I put my key in the lock, unlocked the door, and opened it. I walked into my apartment and set my keys down on the table. That was when I felt something sharp hit me in the back of my head knocking me down. Right before I blacked out, I heard a familiar voice say:

"I'm sorry my darling, but I have no choice."

What brought me back into consciousness was not shining a bright light in my face, but getting what felt like almost a gallon of ice cold water dumped on me. I jolted awake and began coughing for air. That's when I noticed that I was strapped to a chair and I could not move anything. My jacket was removed so I had nothing but a sport's bra and leggings on. The room that I was in was stone, which made it cold. There were a few lights, but I almost felt like I was either underground, or in some kind of dungeon due to the stone.

My senses became even more alert when I heard a door behind me open. I heard a set of footsteps come in behind me and I heard the door shut behind them. A voice then said:

"Ashley Helena Wayne, the great heir to the Wayne Fortune, welcome home."

The person who had the voice came closer, and I saw the person come around my right side so I could look them in the face. The only issue was that I couldn't look them in the face. Their face was being hidden by a mask, and not just any mask, the mask of a Talon.

'The Court of Owls' I thought to myself. That was the court that the boys were referencing. The Talon reached to me and grabbed my face harshly. "You have grown nicely since I saw you last. However, due to the issue that I thought you perished on your injection ceremony from Russia, I do believe that you are not the only person at fault here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I spat

The Talon released his grip from my face "In due time, you will, Nightingale."

My eyes widened as I felt two people untie me and put handcuffs around both my wrists and practically shove me out of the room. I was led down a stone hallway passing by other doors. Mentally I took note of where they were as I was trying to plan my escape. The only problem is that I don't know if I'm underground or not.

We came to a stop at one of the 'cells' and they shoved me in. They took the handcuffs off me and practically shoved me to the floor. Man was I gonna have bruises. Honestly though, now that I've thought about it, I've been through worse. I've been shot, beaten, stabbed, electrocuted, and tortured so many times over the years as Batgirl and Nightingale that getting shoved is nothing compared to being hit with a baseball bat.

"Terrible and Sloppy" a familiar voice said, making me groan "You could've easily grabbed one of the guard's keys and gotten us out of here."

The voice was behind me and I was too annoyed for any hallucinations.

"Oh yeah, well maybe if you were alive and not dead I'd believe you for once." I said getting up off the floor

The voice sighed "Do I really make you that annoyed?"

"You always have, even now, you're just a figment of my imagination and you're still bothering me about how terrible of a daughter I am." I huff out as I crossed my arms

I then felt a hand on my shoulder which made me shudder in response and turn around to look the person in the eyes.

"You are not a terrible daughter, if anything I should be the terrible parent forcing you into this life at such a young age." the person said

"Dad?" I choked out

My father smiled before pulling me into a hug. I started to cry as he kissed the top of my head.

"Tears for your old man kiddo?" Bruce asked, pulling out of the hug as I wiped my eyes.

I glanced over my father, he was thin, wearing clothes the talons probably gave him. He had bruises all over his arms, a cut that was healing on his forehead, and he now had a beard on his face. He looked older, as I never saw my father have this many gray hairs in my life.

"I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead...well except for Damian." I explained "I let you down. You've been trapped here a year all because Mom's alive and she shot you. Why? Who knows why, and I only found out today that Mom's alive. Did you know that Mom was alive?"

My father opened his mouth before another familiar voice said: "Actually, he didn't."

The other figure looked just as beat up as my father. My eyes widened as the figure came into the light:

"Mom?" I croaked

"Hello Ashley" Selina said with a sad smile "I missed you."


	16. Chapter 16

I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe it. My mother, who was presumably dead for 21 years of my life is alive and...almost well. She looks just like she did when she was younger...well except she's older now. She's in the same shape as my father, which I presume is from the Court's torture sessions. Her bottom lip is sliced, she has dirt all up and down her arms and on her forehead. Her once short light brown hair is now shoulder length and hanging down. She looked tired, beat up, and broken, but knowing my mother, she would not show any sign of weakness.

I slowly walked towards her and she met me halfway.

"You're...you're here." she whispered

"Yeah." I whispered back

"You got big." She said taking my hands in hers and looking over my stature

"You got…" I began

"Old" my mother finished with a raised eyebrow and I laughed through my tears

"Yeah" I laughed and she pulled me in for a hug

"Oh my god, I never thought I'd see you again. I never thought I'd see either of you again." Selina explained

I pulled out of the hug and crossed my arms. "I want an explanation."

"Why?" Bruce asked

"You know why. How is Mom alive? She died right in front of me and I wanna know how she is here. And why did you shoot Dad? That's the first thing, the second thing is what is this whole deal with the Court saying that 'I'm home' and what's the deal with Russia?" I began and both of my parents sighed

My father walked over to the wall and leaned against it.

"She was going to find out at some point Bruce, we can't keep this from her." Selina explained

"Yeah but...I don't know if I'm ready to tell her." my father sighed

"Honey, she's 25 and more mature than we were at her age." my mother retorted

My father looked me in the eyes and then glanced back to my mother. He sighed again and rubbed his right hand down his face in a tiresome way.

"Alright" he began "Where do you want to start?"

"The beginning" I explained

My father sighed before he began:

"You were born two months early when your mother and I were on a business trip in Volgograd, Russia. Alfred wasn't with us, so we were absolutely clueless when you were born. Due to the fact that you were born two months early, your mother and I didn't think you'd survive the night."

"We needed a plan of action." my mother continued "However, there was a problem. People would freak out that I had you two months early, so we decided to keep your birth a secret until the month you were supposed to be born."

"That still doesn't explain the Court." I said as I sat down on the floor up against the other cell wall

"We're getting there" My father explained "While in Russia, your mother and I overheard people speaking about how they take children at the time of infants and bring them to a facility where they would be trained to be 'the best versions of themselves.' However, at the time they also spoke about how if the children had any medical issues, the facility could cure it through a simple injection. Heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer, all gone with one injection. You're mother and I being the stupid kids that we were back then, decided to take you there under a different alias."

"So my name isn't Ashley Helena Wayne?" I asked

"Personally I wanted your middle name to be Martha." my father murmured

"After Grandma?" I questioned

"No, after Martha Washington." my father sarcastically replied

"No, your name is Ashley, but we needed a different name so that people didn't suspect that you were our kid." my mother interjected giving my father a dirty look indicating for him to shut up

"The temporary name we gave you was Yelena Anastasia Fydorova." My father continued after rolling his eyes at my mother

"That is the most Russian name I have ever heard of." I snickered and both of my parents glared at me "Sorry, please continue."

"You're mother and I took you to one of the facilities under fake aliases as well, but we didn't know at the time that we wouldn't see you for two months after the injection." he continued

"What do you mean?" I asked

"When a child or infant was taken from their family, they were meant to stay with the organization for their entire life. So when we brought you, they told us that we'd never see you again." my mother explained "So your father called the Russian government and sent them an anonymous tip that this 'facility' was taking children from their families and keeping them hostage."

"In the long run, they sent many of the children back to their families...except for you and another baby. They sent both of you to Gotham. The other infant they sent you with died though." my father explained "When we finally adopted you back anonymously, we noticed that they did some genetic enhancements on you."

"What kind of enhancements?" I asked

"Well for starters, when you were born, your eyes were not green like mine, they were brown like your fathers." my mother explained

"So the Court gave me this injection and it healed me after I was born?" I questioned

"Amongst other things." Bruce interjected "It enhanced everything, you had weak bones when you were born originally, and now they are strong and healthy. The reason you were able to beat the track record at Gotham Academy, your enhanced genes. Everything you were able to do athletically, was because of the enhancement."

"What was the purpose of the injection anyways? Why did it change my eye color and made me physically stronger?" I said leaning forward

"Well, it wasn't until later I found out what the facility was actually used for." My father explained "It wasn't just to train children, it was created to train children to become future Talons."

At that point my eyes widened. "You brought me to a place where they create Talons?"

"We didn't know at the time." Bruce explained "Trust me, when I found out, I wasn't happy either."

"I know why you guys did it," I said, putting my right palm to my forehead. "You did it because you didn't want to lose me."

"We just didn't want you to have a poor life. When I was pregnant with you they said that you probably wouldn't even survive. You were a sick kid when you were born. The serum made you healthy, but the only problem is...what can happen now that the Court has us." Selina explained

"What can happen?" I asked

She sighed "The serum isn't activated, it's in your system, it started the process, now all they need to do is trigger the serum and…"

"I turn into a deadly assassin." I sighed and both my parents nodded "Well that explains a lot and answers one part of my question. The next part is, how the hell are you still alive? I saw you die. The Joker shot you in front of me and killed you."

My mother sighed "Yes, the Joker did shoot me, but he did not kill me. You see, your father and I planned on me getting shot that night. We both knew the Joker was going to attack that party so we decided that the best way to keep you safe, was for me to fake my death. It worked didn't it?"

I glanced from my father to my mother in anger "I suppose but you kept secrets from me." I then stood up and began to pace back and forth "Fuck this is exactly what I yelled at Dick for what he did."

"Dick?" My father said getting up off the floor "Dick's back?"

"Yeah" I said with an eye roll "And so is Kate, Tim, and Luke. Oh and by the way, Jason is alive and an even bigger dumbass than before."

My father's eyes went wide "Jason is alive?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too." I said as I crossed my arms

"How's...Dick?" my dad asked knowing the topic of Dick Grayson was a subject to tread very lightly on

"The same jackass that he was 5 years ago." I said with an eye roll "He moved back into the house when you went missing. He said that I needed all the help I could get to find you, only he didn't tell me that Mom shot you and was alive."

"I didn't shoot your father. I may have stolen a lot of things over the years but I've never shot your father. Though it is very, very, tempting at times." my mother said crossing her arms

"The same can be said about you Selina." my father replied

"Then who the fuck was the person who shot Dad?" I asked

"I don't know, we shouldn't worry about that now. What we should worry about is getting out of here before they come and try to turn you." Bruce said and I began to look around the cell for someway out

"There's no way out." I said with a nervous sigh

"Don't worry, I know back-up is coming." Bruce said crossing his arms

"How?" Both Selina and I asked

"When you were born, I placed trackers on you. I did it with every single person who went on patrol with me." Bruce explained and both my mother and I rolled our eyes "I hope you didn't take it out."

"I didn't. I may have gone against you many times, but unlike Dick who took out his two trackers I kept both of mine in." I said crossing my arms

"So now we play the waiting game, but we may want to start thinking of other ways of getting out of here." Selina interjected before looking me in the eyes and I nodded back

**Meanwhile in Bludhaven**

Dick tiredly turned the key in the door of his apartment and walked in. After closing the door, he walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, grabbed a beer and went back into the living room and sat down on the couch. Blu, who was sleeping in Dick's room, trotted out happily, but when noticing that Dick was alone and looking upset, he jumped on the couch and put his head on Dick's lap. Dick smiled in amusement and gently pet the dog's head.

"Yeah buddy" he said solemnly "I miss her too."

Dick grabbed his phone and began scrolling through his contacts until he landed on Ashley's name. He clicked on it, and it automatically dialed her number. Instead of hearing her warm voice, he heard this:

"_Hi, you've reached Ashley Wayne. I can't get to the phone right now, please leave a message, and I'll try to get back to you." _

After the beep, Dick started:

"Hey Ash, it's uh...it's Dick. I uh...I'm calling cause I uh...wanted to say I was sorry. I know you probably don't want to see me at all right now. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. You've been on my mind for the past 5 years, I...I guess I didn't show it that well. Ash I'm sorry about all of the pain I caused you. I'm sorry I cheated on you, but when you told me you wanted to quit, I guess I didn't want to lose you. Little did I know that I was losing you in the process. The truth is, when you and I broke up, I went into a downward spiral, just like the one you had. At the time, I thought it was because the team was starting to part ways, and your father and I began to grow an even bigger hate for each other, but after I called off my engagement with Kory, and broke up with Barbara, I realised that I was missing the one thing that I couldn't live without. And that's you. Ashley I'd do anything to get you to forgive me, fuck, I can't even begin to explain how much you mean to me. You are the literal only light in my life. Without you, I have no one. I love you, I love you more than anything. If you never want to speak to me again, I understand, but I want to let you know that I have and will never stop loving you. I'll talk to you later."

And with that Dick hung up the phone. No sooner he hung up the phone he got another call, this time from Jason.

"What do you want Jay?" Dick asked in an annoying tone

"You gotta get to Gotham, and quick." Jason said in a worried tone

"Why?" Dick asked leaning back on the couch

"Ashley's missing, the Court took her." Jason said and at that point Dick practically dropped his phone in shock.

* * *

**Selina Kyle - Keri Russell**

**Bruce Wayne - Ben Affleck**


	17. Chapter 17

They were all sitting in the Batcave trying to piece together the situation. Luke was explaining what he saw:

"So I went to Ashley's apartment to see if she was okay" Luke began and Dick rolled his eyes in disgust "And she was gone. Her phone was there, place was swiped clean. Whoever or whatever took her did a good job of not being tracked."

"Well we definitely know she didn't just run away." Kate said leaning back against a chair "That's too childish, even for Ashley."

"I have an idea!" Jason said with a smile

"Oh god." Tim said facepalming

"Here we go." Dick murmured

"Shut up Dickface! My ideas are great!" Jason began

"Todd your ideas are the dumbest of the dumb." Damian replied with an eyeroll

"Shut up Demon. As I was saying, didn't Bruce place like trackers on her?" Jason began making everybody look at him in shock

"Yeah." they all nodded

"So why don't you just...like...track the trackers." Jason said making everyone look at him like he was a ghost

"Jason, you're a fucking genius!" Tim said turning towards the computer and began typing

"Thanks replacement, and here I thought you were the smart one." Jason said with a smirk making everyone beside Jason sigh

"Wait, so Bruce put trackers in Ashley?" Luke asked in shock

"He put trackers on all of us." Dick explained before pulling up his sleeve on his right arm to show a huge scar "I took mine out."

"Jesus" Luke replied looking at the scar

"Found her!" Tim said gleefully

"Great! Now where the fuck is she?" Kate asked

Tim zoomed out on the map and his eyes bugged out of his head

"Oh fuck." Jason gulped

"She's in Russia." Dick said leaning forward on the desk "Son of a bitch"

Dick sighed before walking away from the computers and started heading towards the armory where Bruce housed all of the stronger weapons Lucius created over the years.

"Grayson, where are you going?" Damian asked in confusion

"I'm going to get your sister back, this is all my fault. I should've told her about her mother and the Court. It's my fault they've got her. I got her into this mess, now I'm going to get her out of this mess." Dick explained

"Not alone you're not!" Jason said running after him

"It's my sister, so I'm coming too." Damian said and then Dick glanced at Tim and Tim rolled his eyes

"I'm coming too. Somebody's gotta keep you idiots in line." Tim said getting up out of the desk chair

"What about us?" Kate asked

"You guys stay here, help Alfred with the coms." Dick said which made Luke give him a dirty look in which Dick smirked in response at his anger

"Wish us luck." Jason said saluting Kate and Luke before following Dick towards the hanger where Bruce kept the Batplane to begin their journey to Russia.

**Ashley's POV**

"You have a tattoo? Your father let you get a tattoo?" my mother asked after a while

Both of my parents and I have gotten to know each other better I guess over the past few hours. We were bonding, and I never thought I'd have this experience again in my life. So here we were, my mother who I thought was dead for most of my life was finally realizing that her 25 almost 26 year old daughter who has scars all over her body is now complaining that she has a tattoo.

"No, I did not let her get a tattoo, she thought it was ok for her to get a tattoo, and as soon as she turned 16 she went out and got a tattoo." Bruce said with an eye roll

"I have three now, I think I'm going to get the tramp-stamp removed though." I replied with a small smile

"Oh thank god." I heard my Dad murmur making my mother laugh a little

Just then, our bonding moment was interrupted when two Talons came into the cell and grabbed me by the arms and forced me out of the cell. My mother's eyes widened in horror, and my father tried to get up to stop them, but was held back by one of the Talon's threatening to use their claws to harm my father even more. They grabbed my right arm so tight that it almost felt like blood circulation was being cut off as my lower arm was becoming numb. I felt their claws dig into my arm and I winced in pain. I was led into this room that had a skylight. When I looked up, I noticed it was snowing, which made me believe that I wasn't in Gotham anymore. In the room there was a table with straps on it meant for holding people down. As soon as I noticed this I started to fight and resist my captors grasp. They only tightened their grip on my arms in response. They forced me to lay down on the table and strapped me down. I felt the blood from my arm run down my arm.

"Finally, the last Talon of Russia has returned." a voice said making me shiver in fear

"I assume your parents told you the truth. You were weak, before coming to us, and now...you are home." the voice said as it got closer "Prepare the injection."

"What're you going to do?" I asked "Kill me?"

"Oh we aren't going to kill you...we're just going to fully turn you into the Talon you were meant to be."

The next thing I knew, I was being pricked with a needle, and injected with an orange liquid in a syringe.

"Injection complete." another voice said "Estimated time, 45 minutes."

"Time?" I spat "For what?"

"Oh, we just reinjected you with the serum, this time, we will be able to complete the process since...well, you aren't going anywhere." the voice said

After the Talons left, I could hear chatter from outside the door. From what I could hear the voices sounded frantic. I took notice of my surroundings of where I was as soon as they left. The table was right under the skylight that was showing the snowy landscape outside which made the stone walls inside the building chilly. I also took notice of my surroundings, no windows...that I could reach without a grappling hook, and the only door was the one I was led through. Only one way in, and one way out. I was contemplating on breaking myself out before the serum could take into full effect and go and run for help. That was when an explosion went off, making the wall to my right's debris fly right towards me pushing me backwards. Part of the debris was on top of me, but I still could feel every part of my body, meaning nothing was broken. The only issue was that part of the glass from the skylight was now puncturing my bare abdomen. Great, a new scar to worry about. I felt the blood from my forehead go down the right side of my face. My arms, forehead, neck, and every other part of my body that had exposed skin was covered in dirt. The pain was unbearable, and I was losing so much blood. I slowly started to close my eyes due to the amount of pain I was in, and the next thing I knew, everything was black.

**Third Person's POV**

"Jason, I can't believe you dropped a grenade on the building!" Tim shouted from the cockpit

"Alright, this is how we handle this. Thank you Jason for setting off that explosion because we really needed that." Dick said, giving Jason a glare in which Jason flipped him off "Damian, you and Jason go find Bruce, Tim stay with the plane, we're going to need a quick getaway, I'll go find Ashley. Everybody good?" Dick asked and they all nodded before breaking off to go their separate ways.

Jason and Damian were running down the different hallways taking down guys left and right.

"_Master Wayne's signal for his tracker is growing stronger, continue down this path." Alfred said over the coms _

"Thanks Al!" Jason said before shooting one of the Talon's in the head "You know Demon, these hallways kind of remind me of the League of Assassins."

Damian rolled his eyes "Tt, everything reminds you of the League of Assassins Todd. Why would you think that?"

"Cause all the hallways look the same and they're lit by torches." Jason said as he and Damian rounded the corner to the batch of cells where they saw Bruce and Selina.

As soon as Bruce saw Damian and Jason in their full gear he got up abruptly and so did Selina.

"Damian?" Bruce said in shock

"Father!" Damian replied "Hurry up with the lock Todd."

"Shut it Demon, I'm not the best lockpicker." Jason sassed back

"Jason?" Bruce said and Jason took off the red hood to reveal his face after opening the cell door.

"Sup B! Great to see you, wish it was under better circumstances. And you" Jason said pointing to Selina "Should be ashamed of yourself. You shot the father of your only daughter and brought her here! How dare you lady! How dare you!"

"Jason" Bruce began "She didn't shoot me."

"Oh" Jason said, glancing back at Selina who had a look of confusion on her face. Jason then stuck his hand out to Selina "Well, then I'm Jason Todd AKA Red Hood AKA the Second and best Robin also Bruce's least favorite adopted kid."

Bruce rolled his eyes and Selina gave Jason a small smile and shook his hand

"_I hate to break up the reunion Master Todd, but you best get Master Wayne and Miss Kyle back to Master Drake." Alfred interrupted _

"Pennyworth is right, we better get going." Damian said, leading his father and Ashley's mother out of the holding area and back towards the way they came in.

Meanwhile across the facility Dick was running around frantically looking for Ashley. That was until he stumbled across the room where the injection process occurred. When he walked in, he saw that Ashley was knocked out and trapped underneath the debris. Dick walked over and began to lift the debris which woke Ashley out of her sleeping state with wide eyes.

"STOP!" she screamed, which he did. She sighed weakly. "Put it down, put it down, put it down." Her voice came out almost like a whisper as she was in so much pain and felt weak.

Dick knelt down and took off his domino mask and put it in his back pocket before saying: "See, this is why I keep things from you."

Ashley breathed out in pain before turning her head away from him "You're such a jerk."

"I know" he replied "We'll talk about it over dinner one night, just the two of us. Now we could stay here and argue, or you can give me your hand, and we can both get the fuck outta here."

Ashley reached her left hand out towards Dick and he extended his right hand towards Ashley. Ashley groaned out in pain as she tried reaching for Dick's hand.

"C'mon" Dick encouraged "a little more Baby."

No sooner Ashley grabbed Dick's hand, the debris from the explosion started moving, thankfully Dick pulled her out of the debris right before it crashed. Dick stood up and grabbed Ashley to help her stand up.

"Can you walk?" he asked

Ashley began to take one step, but due to how weak she felt, she fell to the floor. Dick in response picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the room. It was then he noticed the amount of blood that was on the floor behind him.

"Damn Ash, you got heavier since the last time I carried you." Dick said with a laugh even though he knew she was lighter from the last time he carried her.

"That's...That...s a...lie." Ashley whispered as her body ached from the pain of the injection

Dick looked down to see her holding onto him for dear life as he carried her out of the facility.

"It's okay, I've got you, just stay with me." he said as he almost felt her go limp

Jason and Damian had already taken care of most of the Talons, and the few Talons that were left didn't come out, which was weird, as it almost felt like it was too easy. When Dick walked onto the plane with Ashley in his arms, Tim took that as his cue to start the plane. Dick set Ashley down across two seats and checked her pulse.

"She's stable, but she's losing blood fast. I think they injected her with something." Dick explained

"Probably another round of the Talon serum." Selina interjected "I overheard them talking about it after they took her earlier. It takes 45 minutes to get into her system, her body is just trying to fully accept it."

"Don't worry Goldie, she'll be fine." Jason responded leaning back in his seat

"We still should put pressure on her abdomen." Bruce suggested as Selina placed a dry cloth and applied pressure on Ashley's right side making her squirm and let out a quiet moan.

"Sorry, I'm only trying to help." Selina said quietly

"She's just antsy." Dick explained "When I got her out of there, she was going in and out of consciousness, probably from the blood loss or the serum or both."

"You must be Dick" Selina said and Dick nodded

Selina glanced at Bruce who was sitting next to Tim in the cockpit before turning back to Dick

"Bruce talked very highly of you." Selina began "My daughter however...has mixed feelings about you."

Dick nodded slowly "Trust me, if I could turn back time, I'd do anything in my power to fix everything so she wouldn't have pain every time she'd see me."

"I know you would." Selina said quietly "I saw the way you looked at her when you brought her on the plane. You care about her a lot don't you?"

"More than you could imagine." Dick responded

"I know." Selina smiled "Take my advice, she'll come around, she just needs time. From what Bruce told me, you care an awful lot about her and she cares about you. Ashley is like her father in some ways, they are both stubborn and try to hide emotions. While Bruce succeeded in hiding the emotions and letting them show at night when he would put that suit on, Ashley...was more difficult to crack. When she was little she'd hide every sign of emotion from her father and I until she couldn't take it anymore and then she'd snap. Ashley may not look like a sensitive person, but she is quite relationship sensitive. She puts others before herself all the time and it shows. Just remember, take your time, and she'll come around."

"Thanks Selina, that means a lot." Dick replied

"No problem. So since I've been "dead" for most of my daughter's life, tell me...how'd you two meet?"

Dick gave her a small smile "I met her when Bruce took me in. I originally hated her, and she hated me. I thought she was annoying, anti-social, spoiled and bratty, but after she became Batgirl and I became Robin, my view of her changed. She became my best friend, the one person I knew I could talk to when I needed something. She's a great listener, I told her she should be a psychologist, she settled for going to MIT for a dual degree in Medicine and Computer Science."

"She was smart as a child." Selina laughed "Always out-smarting Bruce and I. She's clever."

Dick nodded "Too clever sometimes"

"I'm glad you two have each other." Selina replied

"Yeah" Dick replied as he glanced at Ashley "So am I."


	18. Chapter 18

**Ashley's POV**

As I slowly started to come back into consciousness and began to open my eyes, I started to notice my surroundings. The room was large, with dark mahogany floors and a large set of white French doors which led to a balcony. The walls were cream, along with the small couch and two matching armchairs that occupied a small area of the room. There was a rug where the couch, and chairs were along with a small coffee table. Red satin pillows were placed oh so expertly on the couch and the chairs. There was a desk as well with a few books on it. From where I was lying I could see a book on the MCAT, one on microbiology, one on pharmacology, one on anatomy and physiology, and another on computer programming. I slowly sat up and got out of bed. I glanced at the end table that was on the right side of the bed and noticed a framed picture. I mentally smiled when I saw it, as it was a picture of me, Donna Troy, and Lilith Clay at the annual New Years Eve party that the Justice League throws every year. The photo was from about 5 years ago, and even though I was only 20 and Lilith was 19, we were trashed that night. Donna was worse than us, as she couldn't recall how she ended up sleeping on the couch in Dick's and my old apartment that night. I slowly stood up and walked out to the two doors. That's when I began to fully process where I was. I wasn't in my childhood home, I wasn't in my apartment, I wasn't in Dick's apartment. I was in the one place that I considered to be home since I was five years old. Wayne Manor. I was in Wayne Manor in my old bedroom.

I walked away from the window and went into the bathroom. I slowly lifted up the sweatshirt I had on and that's when I felt immense pain. I winced as soon as I felt it. I still continued to see how bad the damage was. As I looked in the mirror I saw everything. The left side of my ribs was covered in dark purple bruises, which indicates that I broke my ribs, the right side of my abdomen had a huge bandage over it, and I also saw the line for where the stitches ended. My lip was cut, my forehead was cut, and my arm was wrapped in a bandage as well. I had bruises all over my body, and cuts all over from the explosion. I looked terrible, but then again, it's not the worst I've ever gotten.

After carefully taking a shower, I walked out of my bathroom and went into my closet. I pulled out a black turtleneck and a pair of skinny jeans. From my shoe wall, I pulled a pair of black Uggs. I combed through my hair, and pulled it back into a high ponytail. I looked over my face in the large mirror that was in my closet, I then glanced at my hair. Maybe it's time for a change, maybe I should go blonde again. Not that crazy platinum color I dyed it a couple years ago, but maybe a more muted honey blonde color. I don't know, but that is something I am definitely considering.

Once I was dressed, I started walking out of my room. That was when I noticed the bookcase with all of my biggest achievements on it. My degree from MIT, my degree from medical school, along with a few awards I got from track, and a few that I got over the years from my time at Gotham Academy. On the bookcase was another framed picture. This time it was of Dick and I at my High School Graduation. Dick is two years older than me so he was in his second year of college by the time I graduated from Gotham Academy.

I walked out of my room and closed my door quietly not wanting anyone to hear me. I walked carefully down the hallway which led to the huge staircase that was in the living room. As I walked down the stairs, I heard a voice from behind me:

"What are you doing out of bed?"

I halted in my tracks and slowly turned around to see my father standing at the top of the stairs with his arms crossed.

"I was just...going to...get something to eat." I said trying to pull off a lie in front of the human lie detector himself

"Nice try Ally, but you know you can't lie with me." he said crossing his arms

I sighed "It was worth the try."

"C'mon" he said, gesturing to me to go back up the stairs. "Why don't you come into my office for a little bit and I'll have Alfred make you something to eat."

I nodded and walked carefully back up the stairs. I followed my father into his personal office and sat down on one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. My father's office was huge. It was the size of my bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet combined. Behind his desk was a large wall of books from various authors on various topics. His desk was large, solid dark mahogany that was a similar shade to the floors, and on it was a large pile of documents that he was probably sorting through.

Once Alfred gave me my sandwich, a grilled cheese, which was my favorite sandwich of all time, my dad and I started talking.

"What damage did I do?" I began

"You have 3 broken ribs, a sprained arm, stitches on your lower abdomen, along with cuts and bruises everywhere." he said as he leaned back

"So...how many days have I been out?" I asked before taking another bite of my sandwich

"About 4 days. Your mother and I decided to put everyone back in this house as it is accustomed to fit all of us. I sent Kate back to Metropolis, and Luke went back to Metropolis as well." he explained as he read over some kind of file

"Where is everyone?" I asked

"Damian is in school, Tim is back at Ivy, Dick is back in Bludhaven, Jason is in Gotham...somewhere, and your mother is running the company today." he explained not looking up from the file.

So that was it. Everyone went their separate ways after my father returned. I thought for one minute that maybe there was a little hope in this family and this was the healing phase after everything we've been through but in their minds, I guess it all just felt like they needed to help me as I was just another sob story to them.

"How is mom running the company?" I questioned "Everyone thinks she's dead."

"We did a press release, explaining that I was in Africa discovering rare plants used to make pharmaceuticals, and to fix the issue about your mother being dead, we simply explained that the woman that died that night was a double of your mother. We said that your mother was in the Witness Protection Program, and now that her 'stalker' is dead, she can come out of the program." Bruce continued placing the document on his desk "But enough about me, let's talk about you."

"Oh no." I said

"Relax" he said putting a hand up "Alfred showed me the new suit of yours, it's different, but a good different."

"Really?" I asked

"Yes. You'll be great help to your brother and I, that is if you want to be back on patrol again." he explained

"I think I need some time." I explained "To heal and think about what I'm going to do."

"I completely understand. Why don't you rest up before dinner? You've had quite the last couple of days." he said calmly and I nodded

I walked out of his office and walked back down the hall to my room and closed the door. I crawled back in bed and laid down for a few minutes before I decided to go back to sleep. It must've been later because I heard the door to my room open making me jump. I had no need to be cautious though as it was only my mother.

"Sorry." she began "I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to let you know that Alfred has dinner ready."

I nodded. I slowly got out of bed and winced as I did. My mother must've noticed it as she said:

"Do you need help sweetheart?" she asked and I shook my head no

"You sure?" Selina asked

"Mom, I'm ok." I said with a smile as I put my boots back on and walked out of my room

She trailed behind me as I walked down the stairs as she didn't want me to hurt myself. I walked into the dining room to find the one thing I didn't expect. My family. Sure I expected my parents and my brother, but I did not expect both Tim and Jason there as well. Dick however, wasn't there at all.

"There's the wounded warrior." Jason said with a smirk and my eyes narrowed in response as walked towards my seat

"So" Jason said, putting his elbows on the table and hands under his chin and leaning forward from his seat with big longing eyes "How ya feelin?"

He was being sarcastic and I knew it. My eyes narrowed even more and I raised an eyebrow. Jason started laughing hysterically before saying "Ashley, have I ever told you how much of a bitch you are?"

"You don't need to" I replied "I already know."

As we started eating dinner, I looked around the table and realized this was what I needed most. I needed my family. Sure, we had hate for each other, and there's bad blood between some of us, but at the end of the day, no matter where we were in the world, we were family. Never in my life did I think that I would have both my parents eating at the same table as my brother, Jason, and Tim. After a while, Tim accidentally spilled the bottle of wine that was on the table making me laugh. My mother glanced at Tim in both shock and humor whereas my father wasn't thrilled as it was about a $450 dollar bottle of wine. Jason of course had a comment:

"Way to go replacement! You just spilled the holy wine! Wipe up your sins!"

"Fuck off Jason" Tim replied

"It's all your fault Drake" Damian began "You ruin everything."

"Oh shut up you stupid test tube baby." Tim responded and I stifled a laugh

"I'm going back to bed." I said and quietly went back upstairs during the full argument between Jason, Damian, and Tim broke out.

That night I crawled in my bed, but instead of falling asleep, I just laid there awake for hours and hours. Hours after everyone, including my parents and Alfred went to bed. I knew that everyone went to bed, except for one person. I quickly sat up in bed which made me wince in pain and got out of bed. I went in my closet, grabbed one of my winter coats, put my boots back on, grabbed my phone, and quietly left my room. I then quietly went down to the garage, grabbed my car keys and began the drive across Gotham's harbor to Bludhaven. After pulling into one of the parking lots near Dick's apartment, I began the walk to his apartment. Since I knew he was going to be out on patrol, I knew the only way to get into his apartment was through the fire escape's window.

Grabbing the spare grappling hook from the trunk of my car, I aimed it at the roof and fired it. It pulled me up to the 6th floor which was the floor Dick was on, and I cautiously opened the window. After quietly climbing into the living room, I closed the window.

"God he's predictable." I murmured

Blu then started barking but then realized it was me and stopped. I knelt down to the dogs level and began to scratch behind his ears:

"Your owner is such a moron. Yes he is, yes he is." I said in a high-pitched childlike voice

I then got back up and began to walk around the apartment. I didn't want to snoop, but I did in a way. I opened the door to his fridge to find that it was stocked with food and beer. Lots and lots of beer. Dick and I both drank, but while I was much more of a wine person, Dick was more of a beer person. While I drank it every once in a while, I still preferred wine more. And cocktails. Can't forget about cocktails.

I walked down the small hallway into his room and turned the light on. He kept it semi-clean aside from the pile of dirty clothes that were almost overflowing the hamper. I looked at his dresser and saw his parent's wedding picture along with a picture of me. Walking closer towards it, I then saw the picture in itself. It was a picture of me that he took at sunset in Malibu, California. I won't lie, he was a pretty good photographer, but it still didn't matter, I wanted to talk to him about a few things. I saw a couple other pictures he took over the years that were hanging on the wall, they weren't pictures of me thank god, but of places around the world he's been. My all time favorite picture he took was of a sunrise over the snowy winter mountains that he took while he was on a ski trip with Wally, Donna, Roy and I at Deer Valley in Utah. Over the years, the two of us went on some crazy adventures around the world together. Everything from cliff diving in Santorini, to exploring Machu Picchu in Peru, Dick and I have visited some amazing places all over the world.

That was when I heard the window open and I quickly closed the light in his room. I quietly walked down the hall and saw his interaction with the dog.

"Did you wait up for me? Aw, you missed me." he said scratching behind the dog's ears

He took his mask off and walked over the couch and laid down on it. He let out a loud sigh and I leaned against the doorway of the hall and the living room.

"Rough night?" I smirked

He abruptly sat up and looked me in the eyes.

"How the hell did you get in?" he asked

"You left the window unlocked, a really great security system." I said with an eye roll as I walked towards the couch and sat down on the arm of it

He sighed "What're you doing here Ashley?"

"Honestly" I began "I don't know. I couldn't sleep, I just...want someone to talk to."

"Really?" he asked and I nodded

"How're you feeling?" he said as he sat up so his legs were now off the couch

"Sore everywhere, broke 3 ribs, a split lip, stitches on the right side of my abdomen, sprained arm, cuts and bruises everywhere. I feel great." I sighed and he got up so he stood in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders as he knelt down to look me in the eyes.

"I'm just glad you're alive." he said and I nodded "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, everything I did to you, how I used you, how I ruined our relationship and how I lied to you about your parents. It's my fault you're hurt I feel terrible."

"It's not your fault Dick." I retorted and he shook his head no in response

"It is, I could've told you sooner, I could've stopped you getting kidnapped. Fuck, it's all my fault." he said and I leaned foreward so I could rest my forehead against his

"Stop saying this is your fault." I said quietly "This is both of our faults."

He sighed and pulled his head away from mine "Ashley I can't stop thinking about you. Like I literally can't stop. I don't know why but I can't. You've been on my mind for the past 4 days. Hell, I even wrote your name down when I was writing a homicide report today."

This made me stifle a laugh.

"Don't judge me" he sassed, making me smirk a little "The point is, is that...I love you. I love you more than anything. You are all that I have left."

I sighed as I looked over his face. The truth was that I loved him too. I loved him more than anything. Even though he was a jerk, an asshole, and a complete idiot, I loved him.

"You're all I have too you know." I sighed and he gave me a small smile

"So does that mean…" he began and I smiled

"Yes, but this time, no secrets, no running away from your problems, and promise me no hiding secret missions from me." I said seriously

"I promise." he said seriously back

"I mean it Grayson...one wrong move and I'm gone, and I won't come back." I said giving him the biggest glare ever

"I promise." he said before kissing my forehead "I would kiss you on the lips but you know, I don't want to hurt you even more."

I laughed "Jason said I'm the 'wounded warrior'"

"He's a moron." Dick laughed

"Coming from someone that's also a moron." I said and he glared at me making me laugh

He then stood up and helped me up. He then engulfed me into a hug. I felt him breathe in my sent.

"God you smell good, I missed you so much." he whispered

"I know, I missed you too." I quietly said

He then began to squeeze too tight and I felt the pain in my ribs. He must've felt me stiffen and he pulled away.

"Sorry" he said as I sighed

"Just, be careful, okay. I really hurt." I said with a small laugh

He kissed my forehead again. "Want me to drive you home?"

"I really want to stay here." I sighed

"You can't, if you're father found out you were not on bed rest and you drove here, he'd kill you." he said gently rubbing up and down my arms

"He already yelled at me for walking down the stairs today without someone helping me." I said glancing at the window

"C'mon," he said, pulling away from me and grabbing a coat "I'll drive you back."

I mentally frowned but allowed him to drive me home. He drove my car which I was fine with, but I told him if he crashed it, he was going to hear about it for a very long time. Once I was back home, he turned the car off and handed me the keys, before we both got out of the car.

"How're you getting back?" I asked

"Probably take a cab." he responded crossing his arms

"It's a 30 minute walk from here to get any type of cab. Do you want to sleep over, your room is still open and I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind." I explained

"Nah" he shrugged "I want to get some more exercise anyways. I got my ass kicked by Clayface tonight."

I smiled "You should've called me."

"Says the girl who looks like she went through a war." he said and I rolled my eyes

"You still should've called my Dad, or Damian, or Tim, or maybe even Jason at that matter." I began "They would've helped you."

"Ok, I've been on patrol with both of them, and here's what I got out of it. Damian makes sarcastic and arrogant comments about my fighting style and basically insults me at all times. Whereas Jason always curses out the opponents and threatens to shoot their brains out. Your father just stares me down with that glare he's got and judges. Tim overthinks everything, and does too many computer calculations." he explained

"What about me?" I smiled as I crossed my arms

He sighed "You're just as bad as all of them combined."

I laughed "Stop, I'm not that bad."

He smiled and nodded "Yes you are, you are the female version of Bruce, anti-social, dark, terrifying, judging me with every step I do, you use guns every once in a while, but unlike Jason you use rubber bullets, you do too many computer calculations, and you make arrogant comments about everything."

"I don't make sarcastic and jaded comments about everything you do." I said with a small smirk

"You do for most things!" he said raising his voice slightly but in a playful way making me laugh

"If you hate it, then maybe you shouldn't hang out with me then." I said raising an eyebrow

"I shouldn't hang out with you, but I have a thing for dangerous women." he replied smirking back

I rolled my eyes in response before he took a step closer to me and gave me a hug, and in response I hugged him back. He didn't put too much pressure on either side of my body as he knew I was in pain. I gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek before I turned around and walked up the manor's front steps. I placed my hand on the door and glanced back:

"See you tomorrow?" I asked

He nodded "Definitely"

I smiled "Goodnight Grayson."

He smiled back "Night Wayne."

I opened the door to the manor and quietly closed it behind me. I sighed in response before I walked through the foyer, and up the main stairs in the living room. I walked down the hall quietly to my bedroom and quietly closed the door behind me. After changing into a pair of pajamas, I layed down in bed. As I got comfortable, I realised that something was on my pillow. I turned the lamp on my nightstand on, and that's when I saw it, it was a single white owl feather. Just seeing it sent shivers down my spine, and from that point I knew that not only was I being watched, but the war with the Talons was far from over.


End file.
